Brianne Pfannenstiel

bpfannenst@dmreg.com

A bill that would have streamlined the process for brewpubs to sell growlers of beer effectively died in the House of Representatives Wednesday, with lawmakers instead electing to do study on the issue.

Brewers have advocated for change, saying current law requires them to jump through unnecessary hoops before selling the large to-go containers of beer known as growlers.

But others argued the proposed legislation violates what's known as the three-tier system, a federally enforced framework for regulating the alcohol industry.

Manufacturers, distributors and retailers make up those three tiers, and each tier must retain some degree of separation. The structure was put in place following the repeal of Prohibition in an effort to prevent the overselling of alcohol and other alcohol-related issues that had previously plagued the country.

Iowa Legislature serves up flight of alcohol bills

In order to comply with the three-tier system, brewpubs, which are restaurants that also make and sell beer, are required to first sell the beer to a distributor and buy it back before selling it to customers. They can’t self-distribute those growlers directly to customers, although breweries that don't serve food, which are licensed differently, can.

The legislation would have allowed brewpubs to bypass selling growlers first to a distributor, but lawmakers said they had concerns about whether that would violate the three tier system.

IOWA'S BOOZE BUREAUCRACY:

Rep. Robert Bacon, R-Slater, who chaired the subcommittee on the bill, said he would rather wait until they understood the issue better and could address it appropriately.

He carried the bill forward to the full State Government Committee and offered an amendment to strike everything and replace it with the call for a study. If passed, the study would have to be completed by the end of January.

"We'd be happy to sit down and talk with people and figure out the best way to make these laws function well for everybody," said J. Wilson, a representative for the Iowa Brewer's Guild. "So I'm happy to sit down and talk about it. It's part of the process."