Warning: Boring documents written by lobbyists and lawyers ahead

We appreciate the strong public interest in alcoholic beverage regulations following the recent proposals from the Alabama ABC Board. While the media and public have been primarily concerned with one provision of the proposals, there are actually many changes being suggested.

Many of the changes don’t affect beer. There are changes related to wine and spirits tastings, for example. Of the proposed changes that do affect beer: Most are pretty standard and unexciting, many are positive and clarifying, and we believe a select few of the ideas should be dropped or amended. In an effort to control our own message, we are now publicly releasing the comments we sent the ABC for these proposals.

In defense of the ABC

The ABC Board is making a deliberate effort to update their regulations to reflect new realities. We applaud them for that, and we have participated in formal and informal discussions with them about the regulatory structure. They actively seek our input most of the time, and we are happy to give it to them. The image at the top of this post is from one such meeting with ABC officials, law enforcement, and industry representatives (our staff is out of frame).

We look forward to continuing to participate in the process.