Texas weighs whether to allow brewers to sell beer directly to consumers
After years of blocking on-site sales bills, the powerful Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas lobby is finally convinced that HB 602 would not upset the three-tier system and says it will support it. However, WBDT still opposes HB 660 – although its attorney, Keith Strama, couldn’t quite explain why. His argument basically boiled down to support of the three-tier system because it forces separation between manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Brewpubs are retailers, he said, but under HB 660, “the brewpubs … can now become a manufacturer.”
Read the report in The Austin Chronicle and then check out the coverage from Freetail’s Scott Metzger.
