Political Sense

I thought it would be fitting with spring weather, spring break and St. Patrick’s Day that we talk about beer. More specifically, beer legislation.

Fort Worth’s Rep. Lon Burnam and Sen.Wendy Davis have filed a few bills to help out Fort Worth’s local thirst for brew. HB1062 and its companion SB 754 change current law by stating:

(c) The holder of a brewer’s permit whose premises is
located in an area where the sale of ale and malt liquor is legal and
who produces at least 1,000 barrels of ale or malt liquor a year may
sell ale and malt liquor manufactured or bottled on the permitted
premises to ultimate consumers:
(1) in unbroken packages for off-premises consumption
in an amount that does not exceed 35,000 gallons annually; and
(2) for consumption on the brewery premises if the
brewery is located in an area where the sale of ale and malt liquor
for on-premises consumption is legal.

What does this mean to you? If passed, it means our friends over at Rahr Brewery in Southside can sell us some beer for on-site consumption and “to go” next time we tour the brewery.

It also means you may see more microbreweries and brewpubs around, along with more Texas brands like Shiner and St. Arnold in restaurants and on retailers’ shelves.

See what some of the breweries have to say:

• Rahr Brewery
• St. Arnold Brewery

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 8:01 am and is filed under Fort Worth, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.