Georgia beer enthusiasts push law to allow higher alcohol ales - Georgians for World Class Beer - Brief Article

Modern Brewery Age, Jan 29, 2001

Associated Press--Ted Hull's favorite beer--Celebration Ale from Sierra Nevada--is only sold around Christmas. It's a full-bodied beer brewed with three kinds of hops and once called the "best beer ever made in America" by the San Francisco Chronicle.

But it has an alcohol content of 6.8 percent, which means it can't be sold in Georgia, no matter what the time of year. The alcohol limit on beer has been 6 percent in Georgia since the state repealed Prohibition in 1935.

Hull, a civil engineer from Atlanta, hopes to change that with a group of like-minded beer lovers called Georgians for World Class Beer, a consumer group not connected to the beer industry, which organized three years ago.

They are placing their hopes for better beer on Rep. Stephanie Stuckey, D-Decatur, who will introduce a bill in the General Assembly this week to boost the limit to 14 percent.

That would allow beer from all over the world to be sold in Georgia--strong ales from Scotland, old ales from England, German bocks and the world-famous Trappist beers, brewed only in five monasteries in Belgium.

"We're not talking about kids getting drunk on the weekend," Stuckey said. "We're talking about an expensive, high-quality beverage that connoisseurs would drink."

But the beer crusaders face obstacles. Last year, former Rep. Robin Williams, R-Augusta, introduced the same bill, saying it would help tourism in Georgia. It passed the House by a large margin, 126-42, but then died in a Senate committee.

Rep. Garland Pinholster, R-Ball Ground, joined several Republicans in voting against the bill last session, but promised to keep an open mind if it were reintroduced.

"My district up in north Georgia is much more a part of the old Bible Belt," Pinholster said. "I didn't take a poll and I could be wrong, but my judgment was that my district would not want a higher alcoholic content in their local stores."

Stuckey and the Georgians for World Class Beer hope to convince lawmakers that the push for high-quality beer will not erode public morals or endanger public safety.

"It's just an educational issue," said Hull, who brews his own beer at home. "Because it's about alcohol, it's something that folks who are not interested in seeing any changes in alcohol law can sensationalize."

They point out that 37 states, including Georgia's neighbors, Tennessee and Florida, already have no restrictions on the permitted alcohol content of beer. Massachusetts and South Dakota have 14-percent limit.

In none of these states have the major brands--Coors, Budweiser or Miller--increased their alcohol content, Hull said. If people want more alcohol, they can already get it in hard liquor and fortified wine, he said. "You're going to want to sit down and drink a 12-pack of these beers," Hull said. "Not to mention that would cost you about $100."

Sales of "craft-brewed" beer represents only 3% of national beer sales. But it's much more important for places like the Brick Store Pub, located in Stuckey's district on the square in Decatur. The Brick Store sells no Budweiser, no Coors Light and no Corona. Of its 14 beers on tap, most are hard to pronounce, such as Franziskaner Dunkelweisse. But if the law were changed, the Brick Store could offer even more exotic beers.

"It would allow us to carry the best beers in the world," manager Ben Karp said. "It's not an alcohol thing, it's just that some of the best beers in the world have more than 6 percent alcohol."

Stuckey's bill also proposes raising the tax on stronger brews to 9 cents per 12-ounce bottle rather than the standard 4.5 cents--a provision that may rankle the brewers and distributors who support the basic idea.

The bill has a better chance of passing this session because its supporters are laying the groundwork in the Senate, Stuckey said.

Stuckey reported that his group already have an event scheduled Wednesday to let legislators taste the forbidden beers, hoping to persuade their tastebuds along with their minds.