New bill aims to let craft brewers sell directly to stores, restaurants, bars

ATLANTA — Georgia craft brewers are warning state officials that if something doesn’t change, more breweries across the state could close.

As of right now, small local breweries are prohibited from selling directly to local grocery stores or restaurants and bars. They have to go through a bigger distributor.

A bill is working its way through the General Assembly that would change that.

“We sell exclusively out of our tap room,” said Douglas Farrell, part owner of Skint Chesnut Brewery in Powder Springs.

Farrell told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that he’d like to sell his beer to local bars, restaurants, and retail stores but right now, they can’t.

“We really want to be able to sell to our local market, and we can’t even do that,” Farrell said.

That’s because of an old Georgia law that requires small breweries to go through much larger distribution companies if they want to sell their product outside of their store.

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Joseph Cortes of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild said that the old law is outdated and makes it difficult for small breweries to sell their beer.

Cortes said he’s seen a few small breweries close this year -- some of them because of this very issue.

“When you are faced under stiff, onerous regulations that frankly are outdated, we believe there’s room for flexibility,” Cortes said.

Farrell said selling his beer to, say, local restaurants would not only help his bottom line, it would also help make more people aware they exist.

“People who go to the restaurant, they can pull a beer off the tap, and they’re like, ‘Where did this beer come from?” Well, it’s down the street, and that’s obviously good for my brand,” Farrell said.

The Georgia Craft Brewers Guild said it expects strong opposition from the distributors, but their bill has bi-partisan support.

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