Florida beer battle brewing

TALLAHASSEE

Among all the high-minded legislative debate this year over education funding, whether to expand health care coverage to more people and reforming the voting system, state lawmakers will also be debating growlers.

For the uninitiated, this is a turf war over the size of beer containers. A growler is a reusable bottle filled at the tap.

A bill would legalize 64-ounce beer growlers in Florida. (AP photo)

Although Tallahassee is run by the Republicans ? who espouse less regulation and more free markets ? one of the dirty secrets is that businesses and other special interest groups often use the legislative process and the state bureaucracy to literally box ? or bottle ? out their competitors.

Craft beer advocates are behind bill HB 715, filed by Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation, that would allow breweries to sell 64-ounce growlers, the standard size in the rest of the country. State law currently allows only 32-ounce and 128-ounce growlers, which allow beer drinkers to take home beer that isn?t sold in regular bottles or cans.

It is reminiscent of a battle waged a dozen years ago by state Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and former state Rep. David Bitner, R-Port Charlotte, who finally got a bill passed that upended a 36-year-old law restricting beer bottles to 8, 12, 16 and 32 ounces.

You might wonder why that 1965 law was passed. It was aimed at handcuffing Miller Brewing, which at the time was selling a popular 7-ounce ?pony? bottle.

The growler war will be fought by the craft beer lobbyists, who argue that allowing the popular half-gallon containers will help the young industry flourish in the state.

But they will face opposition from the beer distributors, who want to keep the current system, which is quite lucrative for them, intact.

The growler opponents will cloak their argument in health and safety concerns ? likely finding allies in groups that see larger containers leading to more alcohol consumption.

The bill is solely aimed at legalizing 64-ounce growlers, and would not resolve confusion over who can sell them, according to Ryan Terrell, a legislative aide to Edwards.

?We?re just attempting to deal with the size issue,? Terrell said. ?That?s where the economic development will come into place.? Current law seems to limit growler sales to breweries, while other states allow sales at brewpubs and even gas stations.

Past Democratic attempts to legalize 64-ounce growlers have failed, but this year Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, has signed on as a co-sponsor. Young?s district includes several up-and-coming craft breweries like Cigar City, which is using social media to promote the legislation.

The growler bill isn?t the only ?size matters? battle facing lawmakers.

Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, has a measure (SB 658) that would allow manufacturers and distributors to sell wine canisters up to six gallons in size to restaurants and bars. Current law restricts the size to a gallon and proponents say lifting the restriction will allow the hospitality industry to offer more high-end wines by the glass ? since the canisters keep the wine fresher than bottles.

Simpson said his bill is lifting a Prohibition-era regulation and would help wine manufacturers in Florida, including one in his district.

?This legislation would simply remove antiquated red tape that arbitrarily limits wine container sizes in Florida,? Simpson said in a statement. ?By updating these statutes, which were written just after the Prohibition Era, the Legislature would effectively allow Florida?s hospitality industry to proceed with custom tailored wine by the glass programs through innovative new methods and with technology manufactured within my district.?

Some 36 states now allow the canisters, said Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, who is sponsoring the House version of the bill (HB 623).

Texas and Pennsylvania were the latest states to lift the restriction.

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Florida Republicans. Former state GOP chairman Jim Greer?s guilty plea avoided a trial that could have cast a glare of publicity on the unsavory inner workings of the state party during his tenure and embarrassed a number of Republican leaders. Former Gov. Charlie Crist, who is a now a Democrat, may have also benefited in that his role in Greer?s rise and fall would have been part of the trial.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Florida Democrats. Party operatives were hoping Greer?s trial would have tarnished the GOP brand heading into the next major election cycle in 2014. Now the Republicans can put the scandal behind them as both parties focus on the upcoming governor?s race, Cabinet and legislative contests.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: ?Guilty, your honor,? former state Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer told a judge, pleading to charges of grand theft and money laundering related to a fund-raising company he created while he was the head of the state party.

Herald-Tribune Staff Writer Alan Shaw contributed to this report.

Source: http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2013/02/15/beer-battle-brewing/

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