Oklahoma's 3.2 beer laws unlikely to change anytime soon

Modern Brewery Age, Sept 29, 2003

AP--Clark Kindrick would rather make the 45-minute drive to Arkansas for beer than drink the "watery" low-point brew sold in Oklahoma.

Kindrick, who lives in Porum, also picks up a six-pack in Texas whenever he crosses the Red River for his manufacturing business.

"I stock up," he said. "It's a taste difference."

Kindrick is among the Oklahomans who find state laws about beer and antiquated, confusing and downright annoying. But in the heart of the Bible Belt, there isn't much of a movement to change them--at least not an outspoken one.

"They're throwbacks to the first 50 years of Oklahoma's life as a state when we were under prohibition," Attorney General Drew Edmondson said. "I would assume that there is not a constituency for change and there is a constituency to keep things the way they are."

It's not just Oklahoma's faith-based roots that have kept prohibition-era laws on the books. Low-point beer distributors aren't interested in changing the laws because they would risk having to follow the more stringent ones imposed on liquor stores.

Oklahoma convenience and grocery stores cannot sell beer or wine coolers with more than 3.2 percent alcohol. Big-name domestic breweries, including Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors, brew lower-point beer for the Sooner State and five others. Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Utah also sell 3.2 beer.

Liquor stores in Oklahoma can sell beer with higher alcohol content, but they have more rules to follow. For one, they have to sell beer at room temperature. Also, liquor stores are allowed to be open only from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

That means there's no such thing as a last-minute run to get bandy or wine for a Sunday night meal.

Some argue the beer sold in Oklahoma grocery stores isn't that much different from beer sold elsewhere.

Oklahoma low-point beer is 3.2 percent alcohol by weight and 4 percent alcohol by volume, according to an Anheuser-Busch spokesman. The company's regular brew is 4 percent alcohol by weight and 5 percent alcohol by volume, though actual percentages vary depending on the batch.

"You buy a six-pack of Bud in Texas, you buy a seven-pack in Oklahoma for the same punch," said Oliver Delaney, president of the Oklahoma Malt Beverage Association.

Delaney is among those who don't want the law to change, at least not right now.

If Oklahoma stopped selling low-point beer, distributors might have to follow the strict rules imposed on liquor stores. They wouldn't be able to sell beer on Sundays, for starters.

"We have one of the most idyllic situations in the United States," Delaney said. "It looks like that's backward to some people, but 3.2 beer is in all 77 counties in the state. We have access to over 7,000 markets."

Big-name domestic brewers are allowed to sell beer with more than 3.2 percent alcohol in Oklahoma liquor stores, but they don't because of the state's franchise law.

Low-point beer distributors in Oklahoma become franchisees of the big-name brewers and must follow their standards regarding expiration dates, promotions and advertising. But Oklahoma does not allow franchising for liquor stores--if brewers bring their product into Oklahoma, they have to sell it to anyone.

Oklahoma liquor stores sold big-name domestic beer until the late 1970s, when the brewers pulled their strong beer out of the state.

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, its constitution said it would be dry. The state remained dry until after prohibition, when residents voted in the mid-1930s to allow nonintoxicating beverages--or beer with no more than 3.2 percent alcohol--as a way to get around the constitutional ban.

In 1959, voters passed a constitutional amendment allowing beer in excess of 3.2 to be sold in liquor stores.

Oklahoma changed the constitutional name of 3.2 beer from "nonintoxicating" to "low-point" in 1995, after the ABLE Commission reported that 70 percent of alcohol-related deaths and injuries were caused by drinking 3.2 beer. The same law also prohibited the sale of 3.2 beer between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

In the Gazette, Oklahoma City's alternative weekly, this was the runner-up's answer in a recent contest for book titles about Oklahoma: "Don't Come Here--We have 3.2 Beer."