And Then There Were Three…
Congratulations are in order for the hard working beer activists in South Carolina, for they have “Popped the Cap” on the state’s archaic “non-intoxicating” beer law. South Carolinians are now allowed to purchase beer with up to 14% ABV( up from 6%). The bill was signed on May 2 by Governor Sanford. The revision will allow folks there to enjoy such world class beer as Trappist ale and German Doppelbock, to name a few. With South Carolina off the list, it leaves three states including our beloved and seemingly backwards West Virginia. (I think that’s us in the middle…)
As usual we share the stage with our buddies Alabama and Mississippi in everything from lowest paid teachers, poverty levels and post-Prohibition beer laws. I can excuse or at least understand that Mississippi has had other issues like cleaning up and rebuilding after Katrina to deal with, but what’s our excuse?
Epicureans in West Virginia should be sick and tired of the lack of world-class beer available on our state’s coolers. Our state legislature has become the lap dogs of the large beer distributors and brewers who want nothing more than to sit back and sell you the swill they are currently pushing. It’s funny (not really) when I hear one of their lobbyist/spokesmen give a heartfelt statement discussing the safety and sobriety of our children. They say that offering beer with higher alcohol levels is going to encourage abuse. Nonsense! Everybody knows that wine and liquor get you there quicker; besides, the beer I am talking about ain’t cheap.
Oh well, I guess I will go cry in one of my contraband beers that I either brewed myself or purchased out of state. Until next legislative season anyway….
If you want to get “Active” about changing our beer laws, check out this site and sign-up!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Congrats for doing this story….once again….about a decade or so ago I was trying to get WV to change its laws on monopoly beer distribution and alcohol content of beer sold in the state. We can’t even buy Christian Moerlin from Cincinnati in WV! - Steve Fesenmaier, historian of WV’s last brewery and beer activist
May 4th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Thanks Steve! You make a good point, what is worse are the franchising laws that somehow avoid Federal anti-trust scrutiny… It seems that there was a package of boiler plate laws that were used by most states just after prohibition. Of course, most other states have modernized from those.
Also, I would be very interested in doing a few things on WV and brewing history. Maybe we should talk?
May 9th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
[quote]when I hear one of their lobbyist/spokesmen give a heartfelt statement discussing the safety and sobriety of our children. They say that offering beer with higher alcohol levels is going to encourage abuse. [/quote]
I would rather hear those speeches from Spud’s McKenzie or the Lizards[actually, Chameleons]{All those millions. You’d think they could afford to hire real Lizards, SHHEEZZZ}(OK, the Ferret can sing & dance a little too after the hearing!
May 9th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Oh, I was thinking…. Doesn’t Utah still have a 3.2 law???
May 10th, 2007 at 7:21 am
I spoke to Delgate Danny Wells yesterday. Actually he called me to discuss the WV beer law. I had emailed him some time ago and wouldn’t you know, he called to talk about it. Acording to Delegate Wells, he nor any other delegate will change the law because he doesn’t want his name associated with raising the alcohol in beer sold in WV. He agrees that the law is outdated, but won’t do anything about it. Sad. Really sad.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
is this why we can’t buy yuengling in wv?
May 19th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Not Really, Yuengling is under 6%ABV, so it would be legal to sell. The other problem with our beer laws is our very anti-competitive franchising protections given to distributors, thus favoring the large breweries. Yuengling and many other beers are being frozen out of the market for fear that it might affect the sales of the swill merchants like Dickie Barber et al…
May 28th, 2007 at 11:22 am
[…] This frustration, also affects this blog. How many times can I write about Blues BBQ or Sam Adams and still keep it fresh? I would love to be able to tell you of new and exciting beers that may have recently shown up on the shelves at Kroger, but this does not happen, because it cannot within the laws of our State. […]