The Alabama Brewers Guild is confident a new bill will pass this legislative session allowing brewers to sell beer directly to customers for off-premise consumption.

Senate Bill 211/House Bill 176 were introduced to lawmakers last week and mirror recommendations presented by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Study Commission in January.

The Commission said small breweries and brewpubs that produce less than 60,000 barrels of beer per year should be able to sell up to 288 ounces in bottles, cans or growlers. Other recommendations include:

Brewpubs would no longer have to be located in a historic building/site or economically distressed area.

Brewpubs would not have to be located in a county where beer was brewed for public consumption prior to the ratification of the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Brewers could directly deliver beer to charity functions, up to two kegs per event.

"The next step is to pass HB176 out of the House and to get the Senate companion bill (SB211) through committee," said ABG Executive Director Dan Roberts. "These steps might happen as early as next week. We just have to work through the process."

The Commission formed last year after ABG's direct sales legislation died in Montgomery without a vote. Members of the Commission traveled to Colorado and North Carolina in late 2015 to study their alcohol laws.

Roberts said the Commission spent about 10 months studying the issue before developing a proposal that will "bring Alabama into a reasonable alignment with how the vast majority of states treat their craft brewers."

"Virtually everyone in the industry - from the brewers to the ABC to wholesalers to retailers - are on board," he said. "Around 41 percent of the Legislature is sponsoring or cosponsoring it. The leadership wants to see this issue resolved."

Melinda Sellers, a partner at Burr & Forman in Birmingham, has practiced alcohol regulatory law since 2006. She has worked with both wholesalers and manufacturers across the state and holds the title of Certified Cicerone.

She spoke on several legal topics related to the brewing industry at the Craft Brewer's Conference from 2012-2015. Her husband, Michael Sellers, is a co-founder at Good People Brewing Co. in Birmingham.

Sellers believes to-go sales will have a positive impact on the industry.

"I do hear from both sides that they have reached a bill that both sides are comfortable with, so to me, that's a good thing," she said. "I'm glad that we're not in a state where one side is strongholding the other or that the bill is heavily opposed by some group."

ABG commissioned a report from Jacksonville State University in early 2015 to determine how off-premise sales would affect Alabama's economy. The study found ABG's Brewery Jobs Bill would create 655 jobs, generate $12.3 million in tax revenue and create $100 million in total economic output within three to five years.

Here's a quick breakdown of the study:

461 - Number of jobs without implementation

1,116 - Number of jobs with implementation

$8,668,695 - Amount of tax revenue without implementation

$21,039,976 - Amount of tax revenue with implementation

$68,755,826 - Amount of economic output without implementation

$169,725,865 - Amount of economic output with implementation

Sellers said to-go sales would boost the state's tourism industry, especially for out-of-town visitors who can't easily buy products from a local restaurant, taproom or retail store. It will also allow breweries to grow their brands, she added.

"If I can go in breweries in Tennessee and purchase that six-pack of beer and take it home with me to whatever other state, that's one more interaction with the tourist that we don't have in Alabama," she said. "So I'm glad that we're opening that door for them here."