After a topsy turvy year for brewers across the state, the Georgia Department of Revenue Monday revealed a new set of proposed rules meant to satisfy both the brewers and the alcohol distributors across the aisle from them.
The new rules, which can be read in full here, revert many of the unpopular changes levied by the DOR in the Fall. Tours at different price levels are now available with different amounts and qualities of free beer, food is finally allowed on site both as part of a tour package or from third party vendors, and social media can be used to promote the product and let consumers know where it is available. And beer can again be sold on site, once the brewery in question obtains a permit
A good compromise, right?
Not so fast, according to many brewers. The key point behind this whole argument has been the right of breweries to sell their beer on site. Seems like a straightforward request for these small businesses to make of their allegedly pro-business and anti-regulation Republican-majority government, no? But once again, this part of the equation leaves brewers incensed, as the only way to actually sell beer on site to consumers is to obtain a ‘Special Event Permit’ which would allow for beer sales, but only if that beer is purchased directly from a wholesaler first. So no carting out a freshly brewed case of beer for purchase by visiting customers. No, no, that would make far too much sense. Instead breweries must obtain a special permit, buy their own beer back from a liquor distributor, then truck it all the way back to the place it was originally made to be sold to guests.
Brewery owners, predictably, are upset with that deal. Said Orpheus Brewing owner Jason Pellett, summing up the sentiments of most local brewers, “We get to allow other people to use our space to buy alcohol from a distributor. Distributors will be able to sell alcohol in our brewery, but we still won’t!”
Overall though, the changes would be a step forward from the rules put in place by the Department of Revenue late last year. Unfortunately, in this case a step forward only gets Georgia breweries back to where they started a year ago.
