

The Libertarian Party of Florida is hoping to persuade the bloc of newly registered voters this year — thanks in part to Amendment 2 — to get behind their candidate for governor this year, Adrian Wyllie. Now the party is going after the craft-beer crowd.

Fresh off his best poll rating yet in last week's Quinnipiac gubernatorial survey, Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie has just announced his "30 craft breweries in 30 days" tour, which will see him make several stops in the Bay area, specifically in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Dunedin.

Wyllie says his campaign will focus on craft breweries to show support for a small-business industry that was nearly waylaid by a dubious bill in the Florida Senate that ultimately died before getting a final vote.

“As a small business owner, I know firsthand the obstacles government places in our path, and how they can crush an entire industry with the stroke of a pen,” said Wyllie in a statement. “If we truly want to restore the economy and create real jobs, we first have to get government out of our way... and that’s what I intend to do as governor.”

That legislation was a bill sponsored by Lakeland Senator Kelli Stargel that would have originally required craft brewers of a certain size to sell their bottled products to distributors before buying them back to serve at their own establishments. Stargel later watered it down, requiring breweries that sell more than 1,000 barrels of beer annually to sell only up to 20 percent of their product that goes out the door to customers at their tasting rooms without going through the distributors.

In exchange, the Legislature for the first time would then allow for the sale of 64-ounce growlers of craft beer. Florida is one of just a few states in the nation that does not allow for the sale of such a container. But when faced with that unsavory tradeoff, craft brewers preferred the status quo. Their supporters in the Legislature say they'll attempt to write another straight-up bill calling for the 64-ounce growlers to be sold during next year's session.

Wyllie is seizing on that proposal (which alienated other Republicans such as Tampa Bay area legislators like Dana Young, Jack Latvala and Jeff Brandes) to argue about why there needs to be more people like him in power in Tallahassee.

"What’s important is that the people of Florida know that they have a third choice in this election… and a chance to end the corruption, and to restore economic freedom and individual liberty,” Wyllie said in his press release.

Campaign stops in Tampa include appearances at Three Palms Brewing, Florida Avenue Brewing and Cigar City Brewing; He'll be at St. Petersburg Brewing, and will also make stops at craft breweries in Clearwater, Dunedin and Largo.

