Open The Taps voters’ guide for 2012

Want to know how your preferred legislative candidates stand on the important issue of beer freedom in Texas? Then the Open The Taps Voters Guide for 2012 is for you. As a reminder, Open The Taps is about the following:

Open The Taps was created for the sole purpose of bettering the craft beer environment in the state of Texas for craft beer drinkers. We believe that if the consumers speak with one voice, our legislators will hear it loud and clear.

Our goal is to use the legislative process to make significant change in the laws and regulations that govern all aspects of the craft beer industry in Texas. While we know that there are many things that need to be done, we have chosen to focus on these issues heading into the next legislative session in 2013:

1) Allow Texas Craft breweries to sell their beer directly to the public via tasting rooms, similar to how the Texas Wine industry currently operates.

2) Allow Texas brewpubs the opportunity to have their beer distributed to retail stores and bars.

I first heard about them last year, and I’m glad to see them staying active. They put together a questionnaire for candidates and contacted every one they could find, and you can see the results so far on that voters’ guide page. They’re also looking for some help getting responses from the candidates who have not yet sent in a reply, so click over and see how you can help. I’ve been personally invested in this idea since it first cropped up during the 2007 legislative session, and I’ll say again what’s been said before: Beer is a bipartisan issue. Our current beer laws are an anachronistic mess that heavily favor a couple of well-heeled and deeply entrenched interests at the expense of the consumer, which is a situation that should offend sensibilities across the political spectrum. The folks fighting against this have made progress over the ensuing three sessions, but getting across the finish line remains a challenge. Please help shine a little light on this, and make sure your State Rep and State Senator know that you want them to do right by the beer-drinking public. Thanks very much.

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