Free The Hops

Next steps for the ABV legislation

2008-09-18T13:54:00.002-05:00

A common question I am asked when I am out and about is "when will the ABV bill come up for a vote again?".

The Alabama legislature is currently out of session, because the legislature in Alabama is a part-time body -- they're Constitutionally required to meet for no more than 30 "session days" a year. Those 30 days are usually spread out over a period of 4 months. The 2008 session ended on May 19. The next session doesn't start until February 3, 2009.

Although that may be disappointing for some to hear, the truth is that the "break" between the annual sessions gives us time to prepare -- raising money, spreading the word, and developing our lobbying strategy for the next session. It's also a nice break from all the politics. I don't know about you, but I prefer simply spreading beer culture in Alabama to participating in Montgomery politics. We're primarily a political lobbying organization for craft beer enthusiasts, but having the legislature out of session gives us an opportunity to hold events and teach people about good beer.

Raising money and spreading the word usually go hand in hand. The annual Magic City Brewfest is currently our biggest fundraiser and our most public event. However, we also throw smaller events (some that raise money, many that don't) throughout the year. These include beer tastings and beer dinners at local businesses, fundraising events, joint events with other organizations, and both public and member gatherings. These events, as well as chapter and statewide membership meetings, are usually posted on the FTH Calendar http://www.freethehops.org/calendar/.

Just a sample of events we are involved in -- the Birmingham Chapter joined the Alys Stevens Center and Reg's Coffee House to host a craft beer tasting at inter-ART-ive
http://alysstephens.uab.edu/lineup/specialevents/43242/.
In Huntsville, local FTH members got together to enjoy the Redstone Arsenal Oktoberfest http://www.redstonemwr.com/promo-events/oktoberfest.html, which supports that base's MWR program. Other events and gatherings are normally held somewhere in Alabama every month. These kind of events often require volunteers, and I'd like to once again encourage you to contact your local chapter organizers if you'd like to help (or just attend) our local events. Chapters are located in Birmingham, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and Mobile.

The ways we're preparing for our lobbying efforts in 2009 are a little less glamorous. Since this is a public blog, I won't go into all the details at this point, but we are working on literature and educational sessions with members of the legislature. We've also completed initial development of a web portal to educate our members and supporters about their state senator and representative, including their voting record on our legislation and their estimated level of support. We plan to release details of that web tool in a future newsletter.

So although we're in a legislative break, there's still plenty of opportunities to help out, have fun, and spread beer culture in your community. There's a lot of work to be done before we need to start again with the Montgomery politics!

Free the Hops!

Stuart Carter, President
Free the Hops | Alabamians for Specialty Beer

Magic City Brewfest 2008 final thoughts

2008-06-02T13:14:00.004-05:00

Danner has published a very long synopsis of the good things and the not so good things at the brewfest website which is well worth a read. We are totally committed to making the Magic City Brewfest an event which all of Alabama can be proud of, and we are doing that by listening to you, the attendees of the event, and working to correct the problems that happen when running an event of this size.

Thank you all so much for making MCBF2008 such a great weekend!

Magic City Brewfest 2008

2008-06-01T21:23:00.002-05:00

This is just a short post to say a huge THANK YOU to our event sponsors - the breweries and wholesalers, the food vendors - to the bands, and especially to our volunteers who gave up part of their weekend to come and work extremely hard to make sure every attendee had a great time.

Unfortunately we had problems with the crowds on the Saturday night, and it is especially disappointing that people who had paid tickets had problems getting in. This is something we are already looking into so that we can do it better next year. Those of you who braved the weather and still had fun on Sunday will have seen some of the changes already, so that Magic City Brewfest 2009 can be even bigger and better!

We were failed by the senate

2008-05-20T10:08:00.005-05:00

Last year the Gourmet Beer Bill was given the "Shroud Award" for the "deadest bill of the session".

This year members and supporters of Free the Hops rallied around magnificently and carried out a sustained effort of education on the issues, such that every single legislator in the Alabama Legislature heard about Gourmet Beer and knew what the real issues were.

We were failed by the Senate. They spent the entire session in petty bickering, being too busy scoring political points to do the job we pay them to do. An entire legislative session squandered in point-scoring instead of dealing with the very grave legislative issues that were before them.

The senate didn't deal with the education budget. They didn't deal with removing the 4% grocery tax. They didn't deal with the smoking ban. They didn't deal with a bill to prevent large corporations avoiding paying Alabama taxes. They didn't deal with a bill to exempt the Federal Stimulus Check from Alabama taxation.

It is time for you, the people of Alabama, to feel outraged at this. The senators behaved in a way that brings shame on the state, and they need to learn that their actions have consequences on their own political careers.

Let me be blunt here: the issue is not that the senators failed to deal with Gourmet Beer. The issue is that they failed you, the people of Alabama - and that failure needs to be punished.

Call, email, or write your senator. Tell them how you feel about their dismal failure to achieve anything this year. Tell them how you feel about their poor representation of you on the national political field. Tell them how you feel about them confirming everyone's prejudices about our great state.

Tell them you will remember that all they achieved in 2007 was to vote themselves a huge pay rise.

Above all, tell them that in 2010 you will remember their failures in 2007 and 2008. And that voluntary failure is not acceptable.

Find your senator:
http://capwiz.com/state-al/dbq/zs.dbq

Monday May 19

2008-05-13T08:24:00.002-05:00

For those who were listening in to the Senate audio last week, it will come as no surprise that we took the strategic decision to hold off on pressing the Gourmet Beer Bill. By the time the semi-filibuster was resolved, it was late in the evening and the Senators were all cranky, tired, and hungry.

In that kind of environment our Gourmet Beer Bill would not have had good odds.

Mark your calendars for Monday, May 19th. This is the last day of the legislative session. HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, will be on the calendar. Please call your senators over the next week, and very politely request them to support HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill. You can call them whether or not you have done so already. You could also ask your friends, co-workers, family, neighbours, anyone you know who is not anti-alcohol - they, too can call their senators.

If you have family and friends who are out of state, get them to call as well - their opinion, and the tourist dollars that backs their opinion, are just as important to the senators as you and your opinion are.

If we all pull together, if we all rally our connections and contacts, we can achieve the aim we have been working towards for the last three years - we can start to Free those Hops from the chains of the archaic 6% ABV law. Let the Alabama Senate hear your voices loud and clear - let them hear the message -

FREE THE HOPS!

It's Never Easy

2008-05-09T06:34:00.002-05:00

What a crazy day yesterday. Events took an unforeseen turn and forced us to change plans on the fly. Not uncommon in politics.

To sum up, the first bill that the Senate addressed yesterday was the bill to remove the state sales tax on food and eliminate the state income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid. That bill failed a procedural vote by a narrow margin, leading its proponents to begin a filibuster.

In the midst of the filibuster, the Senate adopted a special order calendar consisting solely of 100 local bills. Under more favorable circumstances, there would have been no debate and no stalling on any bill, allowing them to work that calendar at a rate of less than one minute per bill. In such a scenario, that calendar would have been completed early in the day, with plenty of time left for many statewide bills.

But the food tax bill proponents continued to filibuster the first few bills of that calendar, initially taking up to 40 minutes to speak on each. While that was going on, negotiations were taking place off the floor. Those negotiations led to some sort of possible compromise agreement, which it seemed to me probably involved a proposed amendment to the food tax bill that would allow it to pass. BUT, it required some research on fiscal matters related to the amendment.

So, the bill proponents agreed to stop their standard filibuster tactics of speaking for 40 minutes on each bill in order to allow the local bill SO calendar to make some progress. But to buy time for the continued behind the scenes dealings, they took up a different measure: a sort of "half-filibuster" by which they asked each bill to be read at length. This stalled and allowed them time to do the research and finalize the compromise, but obviously took less than the 40 minutes per bill that would have been dragging things down if a full filibuster were happening.

Sometime mid to late evening, the compromise was obviously finalized and the food tax bill proponents finally stopped their half filibuster and allowed the local special order calendar to proceed at full speed. But by then the mess had drug on for hours and hours. They didn't finish the local bills until sometime around 8:00pm. By that point, some people were asking for a motion to adjourn. They were tired and hungry and sick of dealing with bills. Nevertheless, the Senate leadership was determined to adopt a calendar with some statewide bills and make some progress--yesterday was the last chance the legislature had to pass bills which would not require the Governor's signature to become law. They didn't want to miss their chance to get some bills through that might be vetoed by the Governor. They will have a chance to overturn any vetoes of yesterday's bills when the return for their final day on May 19th.

But our lobbyist decided that under those circumstances it was likely they wouldn't get through the entire calendar of statewide bills proposed by the Rules Committee, and he feared if we opted for a spot on that calendar we might not come up before the body adjourned. He therefore opted instead to wait for the final legislative day. It was critical strategic decision in a stressful environment, and it's why we are paying him good money. The Senate only made it through 5 of the 17 bills on the calendar adopted last night. We would not have been in the top 5.

So now, again, we wait. And the dynamic has changed a bit. We really wanted to pass yesterday for the reasons stated above. Passage yesterday would have allowed HB196 to become law even without Riley's signature. And/or a veto could have been overidden on the last day. If we pass on the last day, we must get Riley's signature.

So, in addition to continued calls to your Senators, I think it might be a good idea to start calling the Governor's office on behalf of the gourmet beer bill. As has been previously reported on this blog, Riley told us a couple years ago that he could see no reason not to sign a bill such as ours if it made it to his desk. But it's been a while... and we're not taking any chances.

The number for the Governor's office is (334) 242-7100. I'd suggest calling and saying that you expect HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, to pass on the final day of the 2008 session, and you would like to see him sign it into law. Simple as that.

Filibuster

2008-05-08T16:58:00.002-05:00

The senate is engaged in a semi-filibuster. There have been mutterings about staying in session until midnight if necessary, but as things stand just now (5pm) the senate is only passing local House Bills, and is barely a third of the way through the list of local bills.

All we can do is wait. And hope. And pray.

HB196 in the senate this week!

2008-05-05T11:16:00.002-05:00

Friends of Free The Hops,

HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote in the Senate this week, most likely on Tuesday May 6th. Now is the time to call your state senator and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass! Because the Gourmet Beer Bill has already passed the State House of Representatives, this is the final step before sending this bill to the Governor. It's very close, so please contact your senator to express your support.

Please visit this website and enter your ZIP code to find out who your State Senator is. Then please call them about HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, unless your senator is Lowell Barron. As he is the head of the rules committee that decides which bills come up for a vote on the floor, and his secretary will be receiving hundreds of phone calls, you will get a better result if you call Senator Barron's business office instead of his Montgomery number.

When this bill was debated in the House, many legislators spoke of the dozens of phone calls they received from their constituents. Your phone calls and emails really do make a difference and is one of the primary reasons we passed in the House. Let's do this again!

When you call your senator's office, you'll likely speak to a secretary who will only be interested in knowing the bill number and your position. Here's an example of what to say if you're not sure:

"My name is (your name) and I'm calling to let Senator (senator name) know that I support HB196, The Gourmet Beer Bill. I would like him/her to vote Yes on this bill. Thank you for your time. Have a pleasant day."

That's it. The secretary may ask for your address to ensure you are a constituent.

Especially if you have made previous attempts at phone calls or emails and have not gotten a response, we are now at the point where it is imperative that you speak with your senator's office. We need you to confirm that you can count on their Yes vote on HB196 this week. You can be sure our neo-Prohibitionist opponents will be making lots of phone calls. Calls from our supporters need to overwhelm the Senators and drown out the opposition's calls.

Hope

2008-05-01T19:03:00.002-05:00

The word today from our lobbyist is that he is very confident he will be able to get the Gourmet Beer Bill on the Senate's special order calendar sometime next week. Nothing is guaranteed in Alabama politics, of course. Although the Senate did a remarkable job passing a tremendous amount of legislation today and yesterday, tensions are still running high because of the long filibuster over gambling and how it was ended (and where that leaves the specific bills each Senator wants to see passed).

But this is the best news we've had since we passed the House. The long nightmare of the bingo filibuster is over, the Senate is doing real business, and we are ideally positioned to come up for a vote before the clock runs out this session.

Stuart will be sending out a newsletter next week encouraging everyone to call their Senator. We want to light the phones up shortly before the bill comes to the floor for maximum effectiveness.

Be prepared.

Filibuster ended: Senate passing bills

2008-04-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

The Senate filibuster was ended abruptly this week, to some controversy. The senate has now started passing bills, but we have no date for either of our bills to get on the calendar.

All we can do at present is hope that the rules committee will allow our bills on the floor.

Let's Try Again

2008-04-28T19:24:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow afternoon, 2pm. The Senate goes another round.

We'll be listening.

Deal or No Deal

2008-04-27T20:03:00.000-05:00

Still deadlocked over gambling.

There have been two separate deals in the past couple of weeks that almost cleared things up, but didn't. Danny at Doc's Political Parlor outlines one: Strange Bedfellows in the Senate

I don't even know the details of the other deal, but I heard prior to the Senate convening Thursday morning that the bingo bill would be carried over and they would move on to other matters, and from listening to the web audio that day, it was clear some people were making a valiant effort at exactly that. But the bill's sponsor would have none of it, and they adjourned without breaking through.

So here we go again. Another week, and the session is getting very close to ending. We need to see some action on our bills very, very soon.

We'll keep you updated.

10:00

2008-04-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

The Senate will convene yet again today at 10:00 am.

Hope springs eternal. Well, it springs at least until the end of the session...

Frustration

2008-04-23T08:18:00.002-05:00

Yet again, the senate continued arguing about bingo in Macon county.

There is a large amount of legislation just waiting in the wings to happen, Gourmet Beer and Homebrewing being two of these bills.

It is immensely frustrating that our multi-year effort is hanging in the balance because of an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the merits of either of our bills. All we can do is wait and hope.

Charlie Brown

2008-04-21T06:47:00.002-05:00

Lately I've felt like Charlie Brown to the Alabama Senate's Lucy. They're holding the football and FTH keeps running up to kick it, but they pull it away at the last second. We keep getting our hopes up that they are going to get moving and pass some bills, but still nothing yet. Last Thursday was more of the same.

David White of the Birmingham News has the most detailed rundown of the situation I've seen yet: Gambling bill causing logjam in Alabama Senate

I've heard a rumor that there may, may be a deal on the table that could end the stalemate. But it's just a rumor. I'll believe it when I see it. We'll keep you posted.

The Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 10am.

Nope

2008-04-17T06:51:00.001-05:00

Some people got their hopes up yesterday when they heard the House rejected a bingo bill, thinking perhaps that was what was needed to get the Legislature moving.

Nope. Different bill. This year the Legislature has looked at a lot of gambling bills. The only bill holding up the Legislature is in the Senate, and they made no progress yesterday. The stalemate remains.

The Senate will convene again today at 10am. Wish them luck...

Still Waiting

2008-04-16T06:55:00.000-05:00

These days every time I run into someone who knows about Free The Hops the first thing out of their mouth is "So when is your bill going to pass?" Right now my answer is always the same "We're still waiting on the Senate to get moving."

If you haven't been watching the Senate's activities (or lack thereof) as closely as I have, this article will get you up to speed: Senate remains tied up with bingo legislation

Not surprisingly, the reality is more complex than the article lets on. The bingo legislation in question is not a matter of legalizing or prohibiting gambling, with the pro-gambling lobby on one side and the moralists on the other. Rather, it's a matter of restructuring an existing gambling operation, and there are gambling proponents on each side of the issue representing different gaming interests. Millions of dollars are at stake, so it's not too surprising that the bills' sponsors are fighting so hard.

FTH has no position on the bill. All we want is for the matter to be resolved one way or another so the flood gates can open and the huge backlog of Senate bills can finally start to be addressed. If and when they get moving the Senate can pass dozens of bills every day they meet for the rest of the session.

The Alabama Legislature has 30 meeting days each session, usually spread out in the form of 2 meeting days per week. This week they are working 3 days, though, which means both the House and Senate are convening today. It will be day 21 of 30. As you can see, we are approaching the final stretch.

We'll keep you updated on how things are moving. Several of us have gotten in the habit of tuning into the Senate internet audio feed to play in the background while at work. If you want to watch sausage being made, as they say, you can find the audio feed at the Legislature's website: http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/acasloginFire.asp There is a link on the left side of the page for Chamber Audio. Today the Senate will convene at 3pm.

Will today be the day they finally move past the Bingo bills, after spending several weeks debating them? Tune in to find out...

Steps towards freedom

2008-03-11T11:00:00.003-05:00

To give you an overview of where we are with our legislative efforts, I am pleased to present you with a combined report from the Founder, the Political Liaison and the President of Free the Hops.

Report from the Founder, Danner Kline
I sure hope the old adage holds true for us: The third time's the charm. Those of you who have been watching our progress for a few years now know that we first introduced the Gourmet Beer Bill to the Alabama legislature in 2006. That year we never even made it out of committee in the House. A laundry list of factors was working against us that year, not the least of which was that it was an election year. We also had only a fraction of the grassroots infrastructure that we have now.

So we worked hard all through 2006 building support and raising money, bringing the Gourmet Beer Bill again in 2007 backed by a much larger base of citizen activists. But as Stuart recently explained, our efforts last year were sandbagged by a few local wholesalers of a large domestic brewery. Even in spite of their efforts to oppose us, we only narrowly missed the 3/5 supermajority resolution required to bring the bill up for a vote on the floor. The Senate held out hope for a second chance last year, but their internal power struggle that resulted in deadlock hurt us even more than the opposition from the beer wholesalers. They passed almost no bills last year, so our second chance died with their inaction (capped by The Punch seen round the world).

As you've all heard by now, this year we have finally passed the House. We got that 3/5 supermajority to bring the bill up for a vote and then passed the floor. This was a tremendous accomplishment. The House was always understood to be our biggest obstacle, as that body has a larger number of staunchly anti-alcohol members. Pro-alcohol bills simply have an easier time making it through the Senate. Of course, that only holds true if they are actually working and passing any bills at all. Unfortunately, the bad blood that stalled the 2007 session of the Alabama Senate has carried over to this year and they are once again deadlocked. We cannot know when to expect the Gourmet Beer Bill to come up for a vote in the Senate because we don't know when or even if they will settle their differences and actually get to work this year.

In a nutshell, we are doing everything right and have every reason to believe we can pass the Senate this year and see the Gourmet Beer Bill signed into law... if the Senate will only do the work we are paying them for.

Report from the Political Liaison, Dan Roberts
If you listened to the highlights from the floor debate in the Alabama House of Representatives, I hope you noticed that most of the speakers who spoke in favor of our bill mentioned the phone calls and emails from their constituents. Patricia Todd of Birmingham, for example, said she received between 50 to 75 phone calls and emails in support of our bill. Our members' efforts to speak to their elected officials do make a difference.

The fate of the Gourmet Beer Bill now rests with the Alabama Senate. This is good news. The Senate has always looked much friendlier than the House. The only concern is that politics in the Senate currently has that body moving at a slow, slow pace.

Now that it has passed the House, the Gourmet Beer Bill is seen as viable legislation that the Senate need to address before the session ends. Unfortunately, that is no guarantee that they will vote on it. Politics in the Alabama Senate can be very complicated, but basically the big drama this year rests with Senator Phil Poole. Last year, the governor vetoed a highway appropriation of $1 million that Poole had inserted into the budget. Poole attempted to have the veto overridden, but failed to garner the 2/3 majority in the House to do so.

On the last day of the session in 2007, Poole retaliated by filibustering every House bill that was sponsored by those who had sided with the governor's veto. He continued that trend early this year, causing uproar in the already tense relations in the Senate. A few weeks ago, something of a temporary truce was declared and the Senate began passing a few noncontroversial bills that didn't come from the House. Even still, the Senate has done little more than pass certain "sunset" bills that they are required to pass every year. The drama over Poole's open-ended filibuster of 47 legislators' bills is not making for a friendly work environment in Montgomery.

Still, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. I've been watching Alabama politics very closely since the 2004 session. Since at least then, the Alabama Senate has waited until April or May to pass most of their bills. The reason is simple enough - politics. This year it's Phil Poole, but it's always something. Last year it was the operating rules approved by the majority party. Things tend to get very tense and move slowly until the final hour when they start passing around 100 bills a day. Since the Gourmet Beer Bill has been passed by the House, there is strong reason to believe that it will be considered by the full Senate before the session ends.

Right now Free the Hops is attempting to gauge our current support in the Senate so that we know which senators our members and supporters most need to contact and what specific concerns any particular senators may have with the Gourmet Beer Bill. When the time is right, we'll update everyone.

Many are aware that the sponsor of our Homebrew Bill was recently subpoenaed in the federal investigation of the two-year college scandal. It is important to point out that Senator Rodger Smitherman has not been indicted, and early speculation by my friends in Montgomery is that he may not even be a target of the investigation. As a member of the committee that funds the two-year system and a powerful political player in the Senate, investigators may simply be seeking the senator's cooperation. It is common for federal investigators to "cast a wide net" to gather information. If Smitherman is unavailable for any reason, someone else can present the bill.

Report from the President, Stuart Carter
As Danner and Dan have commented above, we have all had to work together to reach the point we are at now, with our bills poised on the verge of success.

When the House Bill passed, most of us in Montgomery were exultant and bouncing with joy. I, however, was also seeing the flip side of what happened. We still have work to do to educate the senators as to why we want the Gourmet Beer Bill and the Homebrew Bill to pass. Not having a date for the appearance of Gourmet Beer or Homebrew in committee is frustrating for everyone, but going by Dan's report we can afford to relax for a couple of weeks and quietly work on what we want to say to our senators to ensure both of our bills pass the Senate.

What are the next steps?
1. The House Gourmet Beer Bill needs to appear in the Senate Committee. This same committee has already passed Senate Bill 116, which is the sister legislation to House Bill 196, so we are looking good there.
2. The Senate Homebrew Bill needs to appear in the same committee. We have no reason to believe that it will not pass out of committee, but nothing is guaranteed.
3. The Gourmet Beer Bill may need to pass the same type of supermajority as it did in the House, depending on whether or not the House and Senate have passed the budget by the time it appears for a vote.
4. The Homebrew Bill likewise may need to pass the supermajority vote, then it needs to pass in the House.
5. The Governor needs to sign them into law.

Once I have the dates for the steps above I will send out the same kind of newsletter as I did in advance of the House Bill debate.

Working together we have already proven what a potent force we are, and that we are a force to be reckoned with. And that makes me proud to be a part of Free the Hops!

If you would like to contact any of the authors of this article to discuss anything here, you may contact any of us by email:

danner@freethehops.org
dan.roberts@freethehops.org
stuart@freethehops.org

This And That

2008-03-05T12:07:00.000-06:00

Along with about ten other FTH supporters, I watched from the gallery as the House debated The Gourmet Beer Bill yesterday. It was a wild ride.

Some thanks are due to some well-informed Representatives who spoke on our behalf. Of course the first was our sponsor, Thomas Jackson. Also in that list are Mac Gipson, Ken Guin, Johnny Mack Morrow, Oliver Robinson, Patricia Todd, and Demetrius Newton. They presented clear, factual reasoning for why HB196 is good for Alabama and poses no risk to teens or anyone else.

Not surprisingly, two men made infamous on the internet last year in this YouTube video, Richard Laird and DuWayne Bridges, once again stood up to preach against our bill. Rather than relying on facts or logic, these men simply argued that alcohol is bad, and so we need a Nanny State where the government protects us from ourselves by preventing us from being able to choose what to eat or drink. Thankfully, their arguments fell flat this year and HB196 passed the House of Representatives.

Once again, I have reason to complain about the media coverage. The subject of my ire this time is AP writer Bob Johnson, who published a very biased article on yesterday's FTH success. The print version is even worse, featuring a subtitle of "Foes fear teens will have easier access to get high" and highlighting a bogus argument from opponent Richard Laird in a larger font than the rest of the story.

Since when is it acceptable to call the act of drinking alcohol "getting high"? That phrase is universally associated with smoking marijuana, an illegal substance, and it's obvious that Johnson's use was intended to lend a negative connotation to our efforts. He then proceeds to quote many of the spurious arguments made against us without mentioning any of the facts that refute those arguments. It's fine to point out that the neo-Prohibitionists claim teens' will find a way to get the higher alcohol beer. But mention of that argument ought to be balanced by a mention that 47 other states already have these beers for sale, and rates of underage drinking are no higher in those 47 other states. It would also be helpful to mention that if teens want to sneak alcohol from their parents' fridge or liquor cabinet, there's already plenty of legal alcohol sold in Alabama, much of it with significantly higher alcohol contents than the beers we want to see enter this state. If teens want to drink, they can do it right now and the addition of new kinds of beer isn't going to change any of that.

I just wish people would get informed and not publish grossly biased articles that heavily favor our opponents while ignoring the facts. Is that so much to ask?

As an aside, those who listened to the debate online yesterday should note that Free The Hops was not started by young Germans who came to Alabama to work at the Mercedes plant. Out of 800+ paid members, I only personally know one German in the group (who is a great guy, by the way). The vast majority of our members are native born American citizens, many of them native Alabamians, and we're not solely interested in imported beers. Most of us prefer American-brewed craft beers, like Double IPAs and Barleywines from world class breweries such as Dogfish Head in Delaware and Oskar Blues in Colorado. By the way, the founder and brewmaster of Oskar Blues, Dale Katechis, is an Alabama native and he can't wait to bring his many hand crafted ales into his home state. They are all over 6% ABV.

We passed the house!

2008-03-04T23:37:00.000-06:00

House Bill 196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, passed the house!

Next: the Senate! SB116 is the sister bill to HB196. Watch this space for more to come...

Have you called your house Representative?

2008-03-01T10:18:00.000-06:00

Our Gourmet Beer Bill, HB196, is on the floor of the House for a full vote on this Tuesday, 4 March.

If you have not yet had a chance to do so, please visit
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/
and enter your ZIP+4 in the box in the blue sidebar on the page. As the legislature is out of session until Tuesday, you will have a better effect by calling the Representative's home or office number.

Please keep it short, polite, and respectful. If you don't know what to say, here is a suggestion:

"Representative (name), my name is (name) and I live in your district. I wanted to let you know that I am in favour of House Bill 196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, and would like you to vote yes on this bill. Thank you for your time, have a pleasant day."

You don't need to say a great deal more than that, unless they ask you questions, in which case I hope you have read the Beer Education pages of freethehops.org!

We are very close to getting Gourmet Beer in Alabama... and you, the person reading this blog post, can make the difference.

Free the Hops!

ABV Bill in the House, Tueday 4 March!

2008-02-28T14:32:00.001-06:00

HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote this Tuesday, 4 March. Now is the time to call your House Representative and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass!

Especially if you have made previous attempts at phone calls or emails and have not gotten a response, we are now at the point where it is imperative that you speak with your Representative. We need you to confirm that you can count on their Yes vote on HB196 this Tuesday, March 4th. You can be sure our neo-Prohibitionist opponents will be making lots of phone calls between now and Tuesday. Calls from our supporters need to overwhelm the Representatives and drown out the opposition's calls.

Please visit http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ and enter your ZIP code in the box on the left hand side of the page to find out who your House Representative is, then please call them about HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill.

Legislative Update

2008-02-21T14:55:00.003-06:00

Members and supporters of Free the Hops,

As some of you already know, our House ABV Bill - HB196 - came out of committee yesterday. The companion Senate Bill, SB116, came out of committee today.

These bills are intended to increase the allowable alcohol in beer to 13.9% ABV in the state. The next step for our bills is to be voted on in the House and the Senate, which could be as early as this Tuesday but probably won't happen until mid-March. I will be sure to update everyone once we know the date.

For an overview of where we are with all of our bills, please take a look at:
freethehops.org/featuredcontent/thesteps.php

How you can help pass our House ABV bill

Please visit the Alabama legislature web site:
www.legislature.state.al.us

there is a box on the left hand side of the screen where you can type in your ZIP code, which will tell you who your House Representative and Senator are. Please call your Representative to let them know you support the bill and would like to see it pass in the House. A telephone call is *the* most effective way to let them know how much you care about the bill!

How you can help pass our Senate ABV and Home Brewing bills

Please call your Senator (see link above) and let them know you support SB116 (the Senate ABV Bill) and SB355 (the Home Brewing Bill), and that you would like your Senator to help pass these bills. Again, a telephone call is *the* most effective way to let them know how much you care about the bill!

I cannot stress this enough: if you, personally, call your House Rep about HB196 (the Gourmet Beer Bill), AND call your Senator about SB116 (Gourmet Beer Bill) and SB355 (Home Brewing Bill), we will free the hops this year! If you are unable to call your Representative or Senator, you can also email or write to them via the Legislature.

Bills and boycott update

2008-02-14T11:07:00.006-06:00

Supporters of Free the Hops,

The Alabama Wholesale Beer Association (AWBA) and Anheuser Busch Corporate have stepped in to the fray and have helped negotiate a deal to pass our bill. I have been speaking with the AWBA and the other parties involved and am 100% sure of their commitment.

Once the final wording on our agreement is finalised, we will be proceeding on the basis of a bill increasing the allowable ABV in beer from 6% to 13.9%.

We negotiated this agreement on the basis that the AWBA expressed legitimate concerns about the 14.9% limit, and as the 13.9% ABV limit is one which includes 99 of the top 100 beers we considered this a reasonable compromise.

This compromise ensures the full support of the AWBA and AB Corporate which will be a huge boost to our legislative efforts this year.

I am very excited by this news, and see this as a great outcome for Free the Hops and for the people of Alabama!

As for the boycott, our deal with the AWBA included a commitment on our part to stop actively promoting the boycott and to not take any steps to escalate it further. So we will not be seeking any new businesses to participate. The venues that had already joined the boycott will proceed on the basis of what is best for their business, and we will not be seeking any more venues to join us.

Thank you to every single person who has been involved in spreading the word on the boycott - the intervention by the AWBA and AB Corporate would not have happened without you. I am proud of each and every one of you - thanks :)

Stuart Carter
President
Free the Hops | Alabamians for Specialty Beer

AB Corporate intervention fizzles

2008-01-31T18:26:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, despite a promising start, Anheuser-Busch corporate have not given us any indication of their answer. You can contact their corporate offices on 1-800-DIAL-BUD (1 800 342 5283) or https://contactus.anheuser-busch.com/contactus/email.asp to express your opinion, but this time we are expanding our efforts and concentrating elsewhere.

We need more visibility for the boycott, and as such would ask each of you to do just 2 things out of this list:

1. Call or email Birmingham Budweiser (keep trying if it's busy!). 205-945-4893, customerservice@bhambud.com

2. Wear your FTH t-shirt, hat, or anything else you have with our logo when you go out.

3. Tell all your friends, family and coworkers (suggest Miller/Coors as alternatives if necessary).

4. Have a Bud-free Superbowl Party, or join the one at the J.Clyde. Urge your local bars to do the same.

5. Ask your local stores, bars & restaurants to join the boycott. They do not have to pull AB products off their shelves, they can show support for our cause by offering Miller or Coors to their customers and allow their customers to make up their own minds.

6. Forward the boycott information as an email, Myspace bulletin, Facebook notice, blog post, etc., to all your Birmingham friends.

This is our third year attempting to get this bill passed. It has only taken this long because one single business - Birmingham Budweiser - has engaged in underhanded tactics to maintain a government control that inhibits competition and removes consumer choice. We will no longer engage in their time-wasting "negotiations" which ultimately lead nowhere.

You can shed light onto these shady tactics by writing to your local newspaper. For many of you, you can find the "Letters to the editor" section for your local newspaper at www.al.com and write to them there.

Please remember to be respectful and polite when you contact anyone - this is very important to make sure both that our voices are heard and that weight is given to our opinions.

Feel free to refer those you contact to our website, or to me, if they want more information.

I truly feel that with the help of all our members and supporters we will succeed. If everyone can do just 2 things from the above list to spread the word, we can make this the last restricted Superbowl weekend.

Let's Free the Hops!