Bill to allow on-site sales gets complicated in move to appease distributors
An amendment that Texas craft brewers inserted into their own bill to appease distributors now has bounced back to bite them from the other side of the “aisle” – big brewers.
Anheuser-Busch vice president for state affairs Mark Bordas went before a state Senate committee yesterday to oppose a proposal that would let consumers visiting small breweries to buy up to 144 ounces of beer to take home.
While acknowledging that AB had earlier supported the measure, House Bill 602 AB told senators that a provision limiting participation to breweries that produce less than 75,000 barrels per year unfairly discriminates against his company.
AB has a brewery in Houston.
“We’re not against the smaller guys having the right to do that,” he said, adding that AB would simply like the same option should it decide to offer regular brewery tours.
The 75,000-barrel cap was added as a concession to the politically powerful Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas, which had successfully rebuffed previous efforts.