A message from the President…

In August our normal monthly membership meeting is being replaced by the single most important meeting yet for Free The Hops. On Wednesday, August 17th at 7:00pm in the meeting room of Birmingham Beverage, we will meet with several Alabama legislators. The only name I can mention in this letter is Steve French:

http://www.legislature.state.al.us/senate/senators/senatebios/sd015.html

There will be other legislators, both state and local, at the August meeting but I can’t provide specifics until we have firm commitments. I will send out another notice with more names as soon as I can. I’m telling you now, if you care anything about seeing better beer in Alabama, you need to be at this meeting in August. We need a huge turnout to prove to the legislators that reforming our state’s beer laws is important to the citizens, to the consumers, to their constituents, not just to a few wholesalers and retailers who stand to profit from the change.

Folks, this is pivotal. This is politics in action. This is why Free The Hops exists. To convince legislators that opening up the state to all the world’s best beers can only be a positive change. This is how you can make your voice heard.

I’d like a rough estimate of how many of you we can expect to see. If you plan on attending, please reply to this email. Even if you forget to reply, don’t let that stop you from showing up. The most important thing is for you to be there. But it would be helpful to have a ballpark headcount. Put it on your calendar right now. Forward this email to anyone you know who appreciates quality beer. Encourage them to be there. Anyone who likes beer is welcome at this meeting.

Steve French is an ideal legislator to have on our side. A senator, he aligns with religious conservatives on all matters except alcohol. Folks, I don’t know the political views of anyone on this list nor do I want to. My own political views are irrelevant. Good beer knows no political bounds. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Anarchists, Communists, whatever. Beer isn’t aligned with a political party.

But I can tell you that the campaigns in Georgia and North Carolina both had their strongest opposition from religious conservatives on the far Right of the spectrum. I anticipate there will be plenty of religious conservatives who will support our cause, and I could even provide examples for you at this very moment. Nevertheless, there will be people who fight us on religious grounds. I think they are misguided (Jesus turned water into wine…) but we need to be prepared for it. To that end, Steve is a great guy to have as a supporter.

See you in August.