A Kentucky bill that will prevent breweries from holding distribution and retail licenses has passed the state legislature and the Governor has said in a statement yesterday that he will sign the bill. The bill has been closely watched by the beer industry as a potential “sign of the times.”
This means that Anheuser-Busch will be forced to sell branch locations they currently own in the state. A-B, which fought the bill aggressively has said they may sue the state to overturn the law.
The bill was supported by most in the craft beer industry. Daniel Harrison, co-owner of Country Boy Brewing in Lexington said that the legislation is essential for small breweries like his to get his product out.
He was quoted on the Cn/2 web site as saying “As micro-brewers, we are prohibited from owning houses of distribution, so therefore, we must rely on a small independent network of distributors in the three-tier system to get our beers out there.”