Michigan Senate Bill 1920 - "Growler fills in bars"

This bill was introduced in late 2012...it would allowed Class C liquor license (your normal, every day bar/pub) that has an SDM license (to go wine and beer) to be able to fill growlers. I can't seem to find any information about if it passed or not, has anyone heard anything, or had been following this from the beginning?

I have emailed Senator Dave Hildenbrand about the bill, as he is the sponsor. Thanks for any information.

-Marc

It's actually Senate Bill 1290, and it was referred to the committee on regulatory reform in September, and then... nothing. I don't know what a normal timetable is; hopefully it didn't just die in committee.

Opps, sorry about that. You're correct, and here is a link to the official bill. Thanks!
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billintroduced/Senate/pdf/2012-SIB-1290.pdf

Yes, I would LOVE to see this go through.

Hopefully they are changing it to include stores to be able to have growler stations. Now that would be awesome!

Page 2, section f.

Maybe we need an all points bulletin to Michigan BAs to contact their reps. It cant hurt to try.

Done. Senator called and emailed. Also sent an email to friends and family to contact their reps. Easy to find your senator:

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/FindYourSenator/byaddress.htm
SENATE BILL No. 1290

Unless I'm reading it wrong, the bill only adds some text (the bolded text starting at the bottom of page 6) to the end of the given section of the liquor control code. The rest of it is just existing law and won't change due to this bill. The actual addition is:

Sadly, growler sales for stores isn't even on the table.

If some BA's really want to get behind this, it's possible to draft a letter, print the letter out, or even have a digital copy, and get a mailing list together at the Winter Beer Fest. We have 5,000+ Michigan residents there that all they would have to do is take this pre-written letter, address it to their own rep, sign it, and send it off. I'd be willing to put some time into something like that in the next couple weeks, if anyone else is interested in the same.

This legal speak is confusing.

I would donate some cash for printing.

The way I read it, the additional text would allow class C liquor licenses to sell growers, not just micro and brewpubs.

Which, I don't understand why just class C... We have a class B hotel license, which is fairly rare. We are allowed to sell bottles of booze to hotel guests, which is unique. I don't think I would be able to serve the growers with this current wording. But that's not important, it's a step in the right direction, and I'd like to see others prosper and maybe in the future make it so Class B could be included.

Would page 2 section e apply? It seems to cover both a & b.

Need this in IL.

I want to fill some vacation growlers this summer. Rock the Vote...or something!

Marc always reminded me of "Randy of the Redwoods" so political action was a given.

I believe that what you are referring to is the existing Michigan Liquor Control code of 1998, which seems to be the last time the licensing descriptions were amended. The bill in question would add the bolded text at the bottom to said code, reading:

"(10) AN ELIGIBLE MERCHANT MAY REFILL GROWLERS WITH BEER FOR
CONSUMPTION OFF THE PREMISES UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:
(A) THE PREMISES WHERE THE REFILLING OF GROWLERS TAKES PLACE
COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS UNDER
THE FOOD LAW OF 2000, 2000 PA 92, MCL 289.1101 TO 289.8111.
(B) THE GROWLER IS CLEARLY LABELED AND SEALED IN A MANNER THAT
COMPLIES WITH EXISTING REQUIREMENTS FOR LABELING AND SALE FOR
CONSUMPTION OFF THE PREMISES.
(C) THE ELIGIBLE MERCHANT COMPLIES WITH ALL APPLICABLE RULES
PROMULGATED BY THE COMMISSION.
(11) AS USED IN THIS SECTION:
(A) "ELIGIBLE MERCHANT" MEANS A PERSON THAT HOLDS A SPECIALLY
DESIGNATED MERCHANT LICENSE AND A CLASS C LICENSE.
(B) "GROWLER" MEANS ANY CLEAN, REFILLABLE, RESEALABLE
CONTAINER WITH A LIQUID CAPACITY THAT DOES NOT EXCEED 1 GALLON. "

To me, this limits growler sales to Class C liquor licenses, with SDM licenses (meaning To Go ability)...Below is a link to the state of Michigan's website that lets you know what each individual liquor license is in any certain county. So if you're in Oakland County, and you want to know what pubs would be effected by this, feel free to check it out. This is public information. I'ma do alot more digging on this. Part of me wonders if this was pushed off till the end of the year, they may have to resubmit the bill...In that case, the wording of my letter will be very different.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/mlcc/liclists/liclis4.htm

Sorry, I was trying to read this on a phone earlier and it was not clear how things were bolded. Full screen I can totally see it. I appreciate you guys trying to explain rather than point out my stupidity.

HEY, we're in this together. Like I said, I'm gonna do some more research. I'm in discussion with a few of my distributor owners, to see what they have heard. Maybe after some eduamacated people get off work they will have some other input. Cheers!

There are some issues with the bill. One is the labeling req. I'd imagine bars filling growlers won't be able to comply with current labeling laws.

The labeling laws wants the container to list the contents, such as Ale and so fourth?

A friendly BA has informed me that this bill will be making its way through the House very soon and will most likely pass. Awesome!

Yes. The label has to truthfuly describe the contents. Presumably, stickers could be made for each beer which could then be placed on each growler. The surgeon general's warning also needs to be on the package. Growlers you get from breweries have these already, but I have a bunch for my homebrew that are blank.

Edit: Also, from a brewery perspective you want this to avoid situations where a growler is shared but 1) the person consuming doesn't know that he/she is drinking your beer and the person likes it or 2) the person thinks he/she is drinking your beer but it in fact it is someone else's beer and they dislike it.

Was in a restaurant last saturday, actually a BBQ joint, and was surprised they had growlers there and filled them..Im sure they have been allowed to do this, but its the first time ive seen this at a restaurant.

Unless they were a brewpub and filled their own beer, it was illegal.

Correct, if not, they have not been caught. There was some stuff about some places being fined for growler fills a while back in the MBG IIRC.

Interesting..they do it at both of their locations and are not a brew pub to my knowledge

I totally understand your Edit: points. Sanitation wise also, I can see that being a big issue. Have you verbally or in writing opposed this bill? After researching this yesterday, I was already pricing 32 oz. swing top growlers that would have our bar's information on it, and sell those. As to avoid any of these issues.

I brought my own swing top growler into founders and they just had a sticker they barely stuck on it. Guy said ill just place this on here so you can remove it. Shouldn't be too hard to do that at a bar.

All ya gotta do is put this on there:
Ingredients: Water, Yeast, Barley, Hops.
Pregnant Ladies, don't drink this, yo baby will have its eyes too far apart when its bornt

I have not been involved at all in the bill. As a beer drinker I would love to be able to get growlers at other locations. If you have other questions let me know.

Also, on the growlers, watch out for the 32oz swing tops because the openings are not large enough to allow you to bottom fill of a tap with a piece of tubing. I've been looking for someone who makes 32oz growlers with the larger openings that 64oz growlers have but have not found any.

agree that this is a problem that bars/pubs won't be prepared for, but couldn't it be easily solved by having two sets of tubing with different diameters?

That was my immediate reaction. Alot of bars use the 3/4 inch diameter tubing, I think half inch would fit fine into the top of a swing top.

The difficulty for me is finding a diameter that fits over my faucets. I guess I have to be honest and admit that I haven't invested too much time into it. I guess I am buying tubing this weekend to test.

Witch's Hat has 32oz screw top growlers.

http://witchshatbrewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WP_20130122_008.jpg

The 32 oz. swing top as a similar diameter opening to a traditional 12 oz. bottles, and the 32 oz. traditional growler has a one inch opening.

I don't know what kind of faucets you have, but this works awesome for growler/bottle filling from the Perlick 525ss faucets in my home bar:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/bottling-wand-perlick-525-75-aka-bowie-bottler-228344/

My lord that thing looks perfect...email sent, and thank you for the link!