Decatur City Attorney Deems Growlers Legal with Conditions
Decatur Metro | April 6, 2011Update: The city manager tells me that she thinks “branding” just means the name of the establishment selling the draft beer.
I’ve been trying to keep on top of this for everyone. From Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss…
The City Attorney reviewed [a] request and offered his opinion that “Growlers” could be sold by businesses that have a valid alcoholic beverage license for the retail sale of beer for off premises consumption as long as they filled a branded glass container with draft beer from a keg that has been purchased from a wholesaler; they cap and seal the container; and, the contents are consumed off-premises.
This is great news for beer lovers! Seems to me like the only potential issue here is the “branded glass container”. Traditionally most growlers aren’t “branded”. I wonder if there’s a work-around here or if the city commission would have to make a change to the ordinance.
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I don’t think the “Branded” issue would be problem. All the growlers I’ve gotten from various shops had the logo of the brewery/brew pub/store screen printed on the glass. They filled it with whatever they had on tap. I think the bigger problem would be for some place like Twains or Wild Heaven trying to sell their own beer since it’s not beer purchased from a wholesaler.
gotta love redic laws about wholesalers
It also says for license holders with the right to sell beer to be consumed off premise. Does twains even have a license to be sell for consumption off their property? If not, seems like any place that brews their own beer would need to upgrade their license.
If I am not mistaken, none of the bars in Decatur have a permit to sell beer off-premises. Generally, bars have a permit to sell and consume on premises, while stores have permits for sale but not consumption.
So, the bars would have to get an additional permit (which would make 3 in some places: one for Monday through Saturday sales, one for Sunday sales, and one for retail sales).
Even if Twain’s got a retail permit, they still couldn’t sell their beer for off-premises consumption because beer brewed on site is not passed through a wholesaler.
I think this is more for shops than bars. Ale Yeah has announced they will be doing growlers. I think they are the ones who asked for the opinion.
I think this is great and much less wasteful than bunches of bottles and cans.
Thanks Demanda. You’re indeed correct that they were the ones who asked.
However, I know of at least one other local beer retailer who I’ve talked to, who is also very interested in growlers.
(intentionally misinterprets the phrase “pass beer through a wholesaler” for comedic effect)
LOL! I’m glad somebody had the stones to say actually say it!
Woot, this is very exciting!
it doesnt say what branding… an idea would be for those who don’t have growlers, for places to sell maybe some with a branding that showed the logos of all the bars in decatur..
I agree- or at least find some cheap glass containers then just put a logo sticker on them at each sale.
In fact, if many pubs participated, there could be a ‘growler’ deposit / recycling program which would also decrease costs…
FIRST
Or change up the official Decatur logo. Decatur: A City of Homes, Schools, Places of Worship, and Beer
Slap that on a growler and drink it.
+1
or maybe Homes, Schools, Places of Worship, and beer swigging alcoholic Zombies.
So we have people walking around Decatur holding large glass containers of beer? What could possibly go wrong?
Somebody tell me what a growler is? Bigger than a bottle of beer and smaller than a keg?
It’s a half gallon sized glass jug for beer.
grrrrrrrrr, grrrrrrrrrrr, There, I’m a growler.
I had to look it up too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_bottle#Growler
Excuse my ignorance, but what’s the benefit of getting a growler over a regular six pack? I understand getting growlers strait from a brewer that you’re visiting to get their freshest brews, but it doesn’t seem worth it to get them at a local store since they’re about the same price…
Ok…missed that the source is “draft beer.” Does that mean I could bring a growler into Brickstore and fill it with whatever I wanted? Because that would be, umm, awesome.
No. It can only be dispensed by a retailer who has a permit to sell beer for off-premise consumption.
I’m failing to grasp the appeal of growlers.
A growler allows you take take fresh, draft beer back to your home for consumption. Also, allows for retail stores to offer another vessel for beer and allows breweries to sell beers that may not be bottled.
“allows breweries to sell beers that may not be bottled.”
That makes sense, as does your whole post, but does such a thing even exist in Georgia?
What Georgia beers are only available on tap?
Off the top of my head:
Currently draft only: the beers produced by Wild Heaven Beers, soon to be brewed in Avondale but now contract brewed in SC, probably the beers soon to come from Monday Night Brewers in Atlanta, and one-off and limited release beers from Terrapin, Sweetwater, and Atlanta Brewing.
The applicable retail package locations in Decatur include Sherlocks, Ale Yeah!, and Kroger. Brick Store and Twain’s do not sell package beer or wine. I don’t know if it’s state law or local law that you can’t do both on-premise and package sales in the same place.
There have been laws in place in Georgia that forbid sales of alcohol not in their “original packaging.” This prevents growler sales since the original package is the keg. This is no longer state law (if it ever was) but many locales have it in their books.
Well then, I’m sold. At first I thought this was little more than a gimmicky beer version of fixie bikes (which I still fail to see the appeal/utility of over normal bikes considering Atlanta’s terrain). But, now I see that growlers have actual, practical value that can’t be achieved in any other way short of installing a kegerator in your house.
I’m failing to understand the whole logic of the legal restrictions on alcohol sales. The whole legal structure seems needlessly and senselessly convoluted. For example, What is the purpose of offering licenses to sell alcohol for consumption on-premises but do not allow selling for purposes of off premises consumption. All I can see is that it is there to erect barriers to competing with liquor stores.
And why does it have to be from a wholesaler? Answer seems to be to prevent microbrew pubs from creating a retail outlet for their product. And whose purpose does that serve?
Oh, and who opposes Sunday liquor sales? Oh, that’s right, liquor stores.
I’m not saying that this is a vast liquor store conspiracy but I am saying that these legal restrictions seem more about erecting barriers to competition and rent seeking than any actual public safety concern.
Hey Glockenspeiler, welcome to the party. These laws are said to be in place to “protect the consumer,” but a 3rd grader can tell that they are specifically to protect distributors and liquor stores. The separation of consumption licenses and retail licenses make some sense in the scheme of preventing “blind tigers” where liquor is dispensed out the back door, or places where people congregate in public to drink, creating mayhem and whatnot. The 3 tiered system was intende to prevent vertical monopolies by the breweries, but in essence, the big breweries control the distributors anyway, squeezing out the smaller breweries by limiting their distribution options. If we can kick out one leg of the 3-tiered stool and allow breweries to self-distribute, it will create a renaissance of brewing in Georgia, creating jobs, and shifting brewing back to a local industry, as it was before Prohibition.
I’m pretty sure there are ownership restrictions preventing a distributor from being owned by a producer or retailer (either off or on premises). The system protects the distributors most of all. Once a producer enters into a contract with a distributor for a given product, that contract is exclusive for the territory covered and can’t be terminated by the producer except in extenuating circumstances, so there is no price competition.
I’m sure some of the laws harken back to moon shine running days.
Next: Delivery.
It’s common in civilized parts of the world to be able to go to a beverage retailer, select a growler (or bring you own), and fill it with you choice of fermented nectar at the taps provided. It pains me to have to hold up a place in Kentucky as an example, but here is:
http://www.thepartysource.com/beer_featured_view.php?item=01648
The story on WXIA last night, with shoutouts to Uri at Twain’s and Eddie at Ale Yeah!
http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?menuid=149#/News/Where%20You%20Live%2D%20Growlers%20of%20Beer/49906865001/50317397001/895409735001