MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Beverage Control Board (ABC) wants to know who is taking home beers from the state’s craft breweries. Under a potential new rule, the state’s alcohol regulators would have the power to demand the names, phone numbers, addresses, and ages for all customers buying beer for off-premise consumption from Alabama Brewers.
Customers are crying foul at the potential invasion of privacy by the ABC and industry leaders have described the potential government interference as a “logistical nightmare.” The Alabama Brewers Guild, composed of over two dozen breweries and pubs from around the state, said that collecting the data would be an administrative disaster and could lead to easy breaches in personal information. “I’m honestly not sure they thought it out very well,”Guild executive director Dan Roberts told the Associated Press.
While the ABC did not respond to the AP’s request for comment, or released any statement of their own, Roberts said that the regulatory agency would use the rule to enforce the state’s 288-ounce limit on the amount of brew anyone can purchase at one time.
But opponents of the proposal worry about potential unintended consequences. One of the prime concerns of the guild is that customers will feel hassled by the process and simply take their business somewhere else. “It’s a huge deal logistically. Also, there are purchasers who just won’t do it. They’d go to Publix instead of buying at a brewery,” Roberts said.
Alcohol deregulation group Free the Hops (FTH) has also aggressively opposed the rule, citing the potential for negative outcomes for consumers. “As nonsensical as it might seem, this rule would essentially empower the ABC Board to come to an individual’s house to confirm his or her purchase of a six pack of beer,” said a statement by Nick Hudson of FTH.
Before the consideration of this rule, the trend for craft beer in Alabama had been toward deregulation. The legislature, for example, has in recent years actively worked toward creating a pro-business climate for brewers.
Beer brewing was thriving in Alabama prior to 1909, when Prohibition laws banned the industry. As a result, for much of the 20th century, and until the law was changed in 2009, beer with an alcohol content greater than 6 percent was unlawful in the state.
The Brewery Modernization Act became law in 2011, reforming many former restrictions on breweries’ ability to provide a tap room and restrictive regulations regarding brewpubs. Until June 1 of this year, the state’s craft breweries were banned from selling six packs, large bottles and other containers of beer directly to consumers.
ABC’s proposed regulation, however, could reverse the recent trend and make Alabama the only state that collects such information on beer consumers.
The rule will be considered by the ABC Board on September 28.
