craft beer

A second bill in the Ohio house proposes increasing the alcohol limit for beer, though it differs in several ways from another bill.

(Marc Bona, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - A recent bill in the Ohio legislature seeks to raise the alcohol limit on some beer in the state to 15 percent, though it differs from another bill that a Northeast Ohio legislator has backed for several years in the House.

Currently, the legal limit on beer made or sold in Ohio is 12 percent. Rep. Dan Ramos (D-Lorain) - with bipartisan support - has pushed repeatedly over the years to raise the limit to 21 percent. The increase set forth in House Bill 68 would allow brewers to make styles of beer that yield higher alcohol levels and would keep Ohioans from traveling to border states to buy certain ales. It also would allow breweries from out of state to sell certain beers that top 12 percent.

But now comes House Bill 444, which has 16 co-sponsors - including Ramos. Its primary sponsor is Rep. Bill Blessing III (R-Colerain Township). Blessing could not be reached for comment Monday.

There appears to be a key difference between the bills in that 444 addresses samples, but not widespread brewing, sales and distribution of beer topping 12 percent.

Cameron Harris, legislative fellow to Ramos' office, said the bills are "somewhat different."

"I think the only reason why House Bill 68 didn't gain traction is that there is more support from the other side (with House Bill 444)," he said. "And it's harder to get bills passed since the Democrats are in the super minority."

The composition of co-sponsors for House Bill 444 is almost entirely Republican; only Ramos and Rep. Michael Sheehy of Toledo are Democrats.

Primarily, House Bill 444 would allow certain liquor-permit holders to provide three free tasting samples of beer, wine and spirits to a customer and would allow an increase in the alcohol content to 15 percent. Samples are defined as two ounces. It also would require the seller to display a sign revealing the alcohol content:

"Beer sold from this premises may contain up to 15% alcohol by volume, which is a higher alcohol content than standard beer. Please use caution when consuming beer with a higher alcohol content."

Fred Karm of Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron expressed reservations about House Bill 444.

"I don't know how it would work," he said. "I would have to bring beer in because you can't make beer over 12 percent now. ... Where would the beer come from? I'm not going to order a beer from out of the state to give samples. That would not be business-like. Where would you get the 14 percent beer?

Karm said more than 50 percent of what he brews is shipped out of state.

"I asked if I can brew beer over 12 percent to sell to customers even externally, and they said no," he said. "If I could brew beer over 12 percent and give it away for free, that would be wonderful - if I could sell it."

Karm sees the recent bill benefiting only a handful of breweries in Ohio, like Samuel Adams and Brew Dog, the Scottish brewery that announced last year it would open its first production facility outside the United Kingdom, near Columbus.

"They could brew beers out of state and bring it in," he said.

"It seems like it (House Bill 444) shadows the real concern, which is the 140 breweries in Ohio who want to brew high-alcohol beers."

According to an analysis of the bill from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, House Bill 444 was reported to the House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee last week.

DrinkUp Columbus

with the topic recently, writing a story about an increase in the beer to 50 percent - for April Fool's Day.