Where Will it Stop?

Why do some states go out of their way to find ways to make if difficult to run a small brewery?

I received an email this morning from a small brewery in Georgia that essentailly said "our new beer is out & here's where you can find it." Shortly thereafter, I got another email that said the following:

"We've just been notified we are no longer able to post a map of where you can find the El Dorado, or any other beer style. It is a law on the books which the DOR is now cracking down on. We've had to remove the map to avoid being fined. The DOR is viewing a map as "Advertising for a Retail Location", which is against the law in Georgia. So from now on we (or any other brewery) are no longer able to reply to tweets asking where you can find our beer, give maps of where you can find our beer, or even tell you which locations serve our beer."

Seriously? A manufacturer cannot tell you where you can purchase their product? What about free speech? Not knowing the history of the law, I am just making a guess here but it sounds to me like something that a large brewery with their beer in every supermarket, gas station and convenience store would push for. Just like Florida's growler regulations.

Contast this to the Indianana which between the State and the local government are giving almost $3 million in asistance to Sun King Brewing based on the expanded facility’s potential to create jobs.

I'm not against regulations that make sense. Regulating against 64 oz. growlers and retailer lists is stupid. Why not focus on legitimate problems?

It's time (well actually way past time) to speak up and tell your elected officials to stop trying to regulate the small breweries out of existence and ultimately eliminate jobs just to keep the multinational breweries happy.