Editors note: Booze and brews is an Oklahoma Gazette series examining our states beer and liquor laws.
This is a fun time, said Kevin Hall, founder of League of Oklahomans for Change in Alcohol Laws (LOCAL).
Hall is excited because, after years of false starts, it seems like the states alcohol laws might actually change.
Sen. Clark Jolleys Senate Joint Resolution 68 passed the Senate and is being considered in the House of Representatives, paving the way for a statewide vote that could dramatically alter the alcohol landscape. Sen. Stephanie Bice authored Senate Bill 383, which will spell out the changes Oklahomans could vote on.
I went to seminary in Denver, Hall said. I got a masters in New Jersey. Those are places with a real craft beer culture.
When he came to Oklahoma, he drank at James E. McNellies Public House and people complained about the states backward alcohol laws.
I said, Then lets do something about it, Hall said. The next week, nobody showed up.
Getting to this point has been a slog, but even on the precipice of change, there is a lot of controversy about what the new world will look like and who will survive.
Change brewing
Theres plenty to do at Oklahoma City-based Anthem Brewing Company between brewing bottles of Arjuna, shipping out pallets of Golden One, running a taproom and testing out new beers.
Now, president and brewmaster Patrick Lively has two more jobs: watching and waiting.
Anthem is part of Craft Beer Association of Oklahoma (CBAO), of which Lively is vice president. The organizations position is simple: Let the breweries sell beer.
Current law makes it illegal for Anthems taproom to sell products higher than 4.0 alcohol by volume, including bottled beers or growlers for off-site consumption.
Those are the changes most important to Oklahomas craft brewers, but the laws would change a whole lot more.
The way [lawmakers] have gone about it is to create a framework for change, he said. Were a small portion of that.
Until the particulars are spelled out, CBAO has taken a position of non-opposition. he said.
As for greater distribution through grocery and convenience stores, Lively said he isnt yet counting that revenue.
I mean, were not going to turn them down, but its naive to think were going to be in every grocery store in the state, he said. Dictating which beers get in and how much shelf space they get and where gets really political.
He said big chain stores will likely stick with big chain breweries. Meanwhile, liquor stores are big supporters of local craft breweries.
We dont want to turn our backs on them, he said.
Freedom fighters
Freeing craft brewers to sell in their taprooms isnt a major concern to Oklahomans for Consumer Freedom (OCF), the Wal-Mart-funded group advancing an initiative petition that largely mirrors the details in SJR 68.
Political director Tyler Moore said the groups petition is there to ensure Oklahomans get a chance to vote on full-strength beer and wine sales in grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores in November even if legislation fails to advance.
Its a tough budget year, and legislators have different priorities, he said.
Regardless of the states coffers, Moore said its clear that consumers want more choices. And not allowing consumers to buy chilled full-strength beer and wine in those stores is leaving tax money on the table.
As I talk to different people about OCF, they always talk about people buying beer in Missouri or Texas and bringing it home, he said. That might not be an enormous figure, but we dont want to prolong neglecting revenue were missing out on.
Loss leader
While grocery chains have their interests in mind, so do local liquor stores, said Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma (RLAO) president Bryan Kerr.
RLAOs competing initiative petition would give his members a fighting chance.
All the petitions are good for craft beer drinkers, he said. Ours is designed with local businesses in mind.
Conceding strong beer and wine to grocery and convenience stores will hurt liquor stores, but Kerr said RLAOs proposal would stanch the bleeding by allowing them to sell more nonalcoholic products.
We dont see any reason why there should be any percentage limit on nonalcoholic products. Theres no consumer negative, Kerr said. Theres no public safety problem with liquor stores selling bread. The only reason it would matter is convenience stores and grocery stores dont want something that could draw customers away from them.
OCFs initiative petition would limit nonalcoholic sales in liquor stores to 10 percent of total sales. The two senators bills would limit those sales to 20 percent. RLAO wants no restriction.
Selection subtraction
Thirst Wine Merchants managing partner Alex Kroblin said the watchword is consolidation.
Theres nothing inherently wrong with wine and strong beer in grocery stores, but consumers should know who theyre buying from.
Yes, there might be more points of access to get the product, but there are fewer companies selling those products, Kroblin said. You may have 30 different places to buy wine or beer, but those places are owned by three companies.
The larger the company, the less likely the selection will reflect the will of local consumers.
If youre a craft beer fan and you walk into a big chain grocery store, theres no one there who can make a difference about which beer they stock, Kroblin said. Those decisions are made at corporate headquarters hundreds of miles away.
People might think independent liquor stores are working together to keep prices high, but thats not true.
[In reality,] they cant conspire with themselves, let alone each other, he said.
The proposed legislation has forced them to come to the table to help craft changes, but Kroblin said it might be too late.
SJR 68 and SB 383 would affect where alcohol is sold, who can distribute it and how.
The current system isnt perfect, he said, but proposed changes would favor larger distributors and wholesalers that could essentially pair up, pushing smaller distributors like Thirst to the margins and making it difficult to deliver products throughout the state.
Without smaller distributors, selection goes down and price goes up, he said.
Thirst specializes in smaller, family-owned wineries. Kroblin said its hard to say if those wineries would end up in the corporate mix if the company went under.
Its not a doomsday scenario but does throw a wrench in the works, he said. Do we have the wherewithal to deliver all of our products to all 77 counties? Were in the same boat as the independent retailers. Its a whole new world to figure out.
Print Headline: Drinking games, Changes to state alcohol laws put manufacturers, distributors, retail shops and consumers at loggerheads.