Amanda Coyne

The Greenville News

A change in legislators in one Greenville Senate district could be good news for South Carolina brewers and craft beverage makers.

Sen. Mike Fair was a “consistent ‘no’ vote” on alcohol-related legislation, said craft beverage lawyer Brook Bristow.

Fair said he opposed legislation that would make it easier to sell alcohol because it may lead to an increased incidence of drunken driving.

“The rate of DUIs hasn’t dipped and we have continued to increase the outlets,” Fair said. “Alcohol is a drug, and beer is the most abused drug out there. People driving drunk are causing the highest number of fatalities and most injuries on the highway.”

One of Fair’s “no” votes was against the Pint Law, legislation that is credited with reinvigorating the craft beer industry in South Carolina. The Pint Law allowed breweries to serve up to 64 oz of beer for on-site consumption to each customer and removed the requirement for breweries to only serve beer in 2 oz and 4 oz samples.

Fair’s opposition to alcohol-related bills has been an obstacle in the Senate because just one senator can hold up a bill, Bristow said.

“The South Carolina Senate is interesting because there is a standing rule that allows a single senator to object to a bill,” Bristow said. “That can really halt the progress of that bill. The senators hold a lot of power in that respect. You can stop, or at least hold, a bill.”

William Timmons, who defeated Fair in the Republican primary, said he doesn’t see brewery regulations as an alcohol issue, but a small business issue. Timmons made lessening taxes and regulations on small businesses a cornerstone of his campaign, citing his own experiences as an entrepreneur with two small businesses in Greenville. Timmons faces Constitution Party candidate Roy Magnuson in the November general election. A phone number for Magnuson went straight to voicemail, and the mailbox was full. Magnuson did not respond to an email, and he does not appear to have a website or social media accounts for his campaign.

“We need less government at every turn. Regulation and taxation are things I want to streamline and limit,” Timmons said. “I want to empower small business owners. I want to empower entrepreneurs. Am I opposed to people drinking or making alcohol? No, I don’t think that’s the government’s job. The government’s job is to make people safe from those who abuse alcohol, and that’s where DUI laws come in.”

RELATED: Timmons unseats longtime Sen. Fair in runoff

COMING UP: Carolina Beer Calendar

Timmons hasn’t yet explored the details of South Carolina’s alcohol laws, but said he would be in favor of reducing regulations on small businesses, including breweries, if it helped them grow.

While there is not a current push for a specific beer-related issue in the General Assembly, Upstate brewers say there are issues they are grappling with.

Swamp Rabbit Brewery, in Travelers Rest, would have to either serve food or limit each customer to three pints of beer per visit in order to distribute and make the jump to a 500,000-barrel production limit under current state laws.

If those laws were “loosened” to increase the amount of beer brewpubs like Swamp Rabbit could produce each year, the business would be able to hire more people, sell more beer and, ultimately, send more tax revenue to the state, said Ben Pierson, Swamp Rabbit Brewery’s owner and brewer.

“I could definitely produce more beer than I could sell in-house with what I have now. If I could do that, I could start canning beer,” Pierson said. “If they raised [the limit] to 5,000 barrels, I could afford to go out, buy a canning line, hire six to eight additional personnel, all of whom are paying taxes to the state of South Carolina and spreading their income around the community.”

South Carolina’s requirements for alcohol wholesaling also can be an obstacle for small brewers. A 2015 Clemson University study said that requiring brewers to use outside wholesalers for all beer distribution can be a hindrance to the industry's growth in a state. In states like North Carolina that allowed brewers to sell some of their beer to vendors without going through a third party, the study found approximately 75 percent more brewers entering the market than in states with wholesaling requirements like South Carolina.

“There’s no question that a lot of people go to North Carolina (to start breweries) because the legislation is a lot more favorable for a small brewery or brewpub,” Pierson said.

But self-distribution could spell trouble when it comes to tax collection, said Julie Cox, president of the S.C. Beer Wholesalers Association. Handling all the beer a brewer makes allows wholesalers to assist in the collection and payment of state excise taxes, Cox said.

"We collect the taxes, and we actually are the ones who market and promote the products," Cox said. "By and large, we certainly want the craft brewers to survive and grow and we want to help them do that and keep them as partners."

The wholesalers would not be uniformly opposed to limited self-distribution, but Cox said the organization's support for changing any laws would be dependent on how the legislation was written.

Permitting small levels of self-distribution could help "startup" brewers like Brian Cendrowski get their beer in front of potential customers while the business is still a work in progress. Cendrowski relocated from Tampa, Florida, to Greenville last year to start his own brewery, Fireforge. While he’s working on securing funding and finding a location for the brewery, he’s still brewing at home. Because he does not have a licensed facility to produce the beer, he can’t sell it to a distributor. Because he can’t sell the beer to a distributor, he can’t bring his beer to festivals where people can try it, even if it’s given away.

The law is more than two decades old but has only recently seen an increase in enforcement, largely due to an increase in SLED’s alcohol and spirits agents from two in 2010 to 30 currently, said SLED spokesman Thom Berry.

SLED hasn’t fined or cited anyone for violating the law in the past six years, Berry said. Instead, the agency uses the violations as “teachable moments” for brewers who may be unaware of the law.

Serving at festivals while the brewery is still in its nascent stage is critical to growing a following before the Fireforge taps start pouring, Cendrowski said.

“It’s the only way, other than literally inviting people over to my house, to get our product in front of future customers in advance of us opening,” Cendrowski said. “It’s important to build some buzz and some support before you open the door, so on day one people are coming in the door and we’re selling beer.”