A win for the microbrewers

Woo hoo!

Craft beer brewers came to the Capitol this session with a number of bills giving them greater latitude in getting their beers to customers. [Thursday], the House gave an early OK to one of those bills, allowing breweries to charge admission for tours, and include up to two six-packs of beers to give to tourists at the end.

“Tours of our brewery are the single most important marketing item,” Brock Wagner, founder of Saint Arnold brewery in Houston, told the House committee that took up the bill last month. Other states have that ability, he said, and those breweries and their beers are out-competing Texas beers.

This is HB602 by Rep. Jessica Farrar we’re talking about. It passed the House unanimously and now needs to pass the Senate. Beer, TX has some information on that:

[Rep. Farrar’s] bill now awaits committee assignment in the Senate, where it is being sponsored by State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth.

[…]

Brock Wagner, the Saint Arnold Brewing Co. founder who has pushed for the change as a way to help small brewers market their products more effectively, said his focus now turns to the upper chamber. While pleased with Thursday’s vote, he was not ready to pop the top on a celebratory ale.

“I continue my state of cautious optimism,” he said. “We’re not there yet. It’s certainly a big step in the right direction.”

Sen. Davis’ bill is SB1863; it remains in the Business and Commerce Committee as of today. I should note that Saint Arnold’s already charges for a tour, and in return you get the lovely glass pictured on that page. That’s nice, but perhaps not so useful after a certain number of return trips. If this gets signed by the Governor, I presume Saint Arnold will institute a tiered pricing structure for its tours, thus allowing those who wish to take home a six pack or two to do so. After three sessions of trying to make something like this happen, this is substantial progress.

I wish I could report equally good news for the brewpub bill HB660, but it remains in committee and I daresay it is unlikely to see the light of day this session. Tellingly, the only update on the Brewed And Never Battered blog talks about a couple of other bills that had recent committee hearings, HB2436 by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, and companion bill SB1575 by Sen. Kirk Watson, which would allow for some direct sales by microbrewers, but neither has received a committee vote yet. Frankly, no matter what happens with any of these bills, I think Scott Metzger did a great job getting the word out and building support for letting brewpubs expand their markets. If HB602 can pass, something like HB660 will eventually pass, too. It may take a few more sessions, but it will happen, and we’ll all be the better off for it.

Related Posts:

• Craft beer bills pass out of the Senate
• Craft beer legislation advances
• Brewery bills get referred to committee