Now is the greatest time in history to be a beer drinker in America.
Big breweries are actually making good beer — Sam Adams is adding great new beers, Sierra Nevada, too; Coors brews Blue Moon (unofficial motto: “the best beer for non-beer-drinkers”). More importantly, though, is the blossoming of microbrewing.
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This is all wonderful, so of course Big Government needs to try to muck it up. And of course, when Big Government goes after small business, Big Business is lurking behind the corner.
At Reason, Elizabeth Nolan Brown has the story:
… [S]elling bottled or canned beer at breweries would become untenable under a new bill making its way through Florida’s legislature. Senate Bill 1714 would force breweries to sell all bottled or canned beer directly to distributors. …
Craft brewers — defined as those producing under 6 million barrels per year — say the new regulation is being pushed by big, national distributors with political clout. Direct-to-consumer sales from breweries cut into their long-established business as intermediaries. And craft beers account for a growing portion of overall beer sales.
Related:
• Liquor stores have tried to keep liquor out of supermarkets.
• I discussed alcohol regulation last summer at an American Enterprise Institute panel, which you can watch here.
