Today, HB 1422 passed in the Mississippi House of Representatives. If the bill becomes law, it will raise the ABW limit from 5% to 8%. There's still a long way to go regarding beer laws in Mississippi, but this is a good start.
Very good news. I visit family in Jackson quite often and having a bit better selection would be wonderful.
The optimist in me says congratulations for success with this bill so far. The cynic in me says maybe in a decade or two you will be able to drink the beers the rest of America has been drinking for twenty years.
People told Free the Hops that we would never change the permissible ABV in Alabama. In May 2009 the Gourmet Beer Bill was signed into law which increased the permissible ABV from 6 to 13.9, after 4 years of lobbying, and we have not had chance to look back on it due to the sheer volume of world class breweries we now have - Great Divide, Avery, Bell's, Founders, Chimay, St Bernardus.....
I applaud your efforts. We're going through some similar stuff up here in MT regarding production limits and taprooms. The alcohol laws are very hard to change everywhere, even when they make little sense.
Congratulations! 8% abw is about 10% abv, so this would open up a world of new beers for Mississippi. Does the bill still have to go through the Senate, or has it already been passed by them?
Mississippi doesn't have the same archaic container size restrictions as Alabama, right? I seem to remember seeing some 40-oz. macro bottles in convenience stores there many years ago. Mississippi being able to sell 22-oz. & 750ml bottles of high gravity beer would certainly help the cause in Alabama, as then EVERY state that borders Alabama wouldn't have that ridiculous restriction.
Correct. You can get 40s of malt liquor but no Belgian dubbels or tripels. And AL is the only state with the farcical 16oz container size limit.
Latest news is that this passed the Senate as well, so the law is one step closer to being changed Good write-up in the FuzzyBrew blog today: http://fuzzybrew.com/2012/03/raise-your-pints-abw-bill-passes-mississippi-senate/
Both the House and Senate bills have passed floor votes and have been sent to the other chamber. Even though these bills are identical, one of them has to pass both chambers to be sent to the governor. The fact that both have passed out of their respective chambers is a great sign that one of them will likely make it to the governor. Governor Bryant was opposed to this bill last year, but this year he has indicated he supports the bill. Incidentally, this year the major distributors in the state changed their stance and supported the bill. I would rant about this, but as long as it gets passed and he signs it - I'm happy. In other news, SB 2600 ( http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2012/pdf/history/SB/SB2600.xml ) which would allow brewers to provide up to 6 samples (that are 6 ounces or smaller) per day to people taking brewery tours (of legal drinking age, of course) passed. Right now, this mainly helps Lazy Magnolia, but there is at least 1 other brewery start up (Lucky Town) in the works. This bill will have to go through the House. Also, Lazy Mag has another bill sponsored that passed: SB 2370 ( http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2012/pdf/history/SB/SB2370.xml ) which would allow them (and any other breweries) to brew beer for sale in other states up to that states limit. They just couldn't sell it in MS if it was over 5% abw (or 8% if one of the ABW bills passes).
Yeah, it's funny how all of a sudden these bills get passed as soon as AB and the distributors get behind it. But, I suppose the ends will justify the means.
Senate Bill 2878 passed the House Floor today. I wasn't expecting it to come up so soon, but it did. Next step, the Governor's desk.
Not sure - I'd check the RYP Facebook page and group. Of course, this won't become law until July 1st, if it is signed. I've heard some are celebrating just the fact that it passed both chambers tonight.
Still has to go through the govenor... I don't count my chicks before they hatch. But, you're right in that it going through both chambers is a celebration on it's on!
It's amazing how far this bill has gotten so far, I'm confident it passes the governor's desk. I won't wait to start contacting breweries, so far. Spoke with a Terrapin rep a few weeks ago, they're ready for MS, so is Rogue. Good People said they're willing to distribute too, too bad they are already working at top capacity and barely able to supply their areas.
Since Rogue is already in MS, that's not surprise. If this is signed, it's been pretty much accepted that breweries already with a presence in the state will be the first to bring in higher alcohol beers. I'd say regional breweries would be next. Looking forward to getting NOLA Brewing beers in MS and trying as many other beers as possible.
Here's a message from the RYP peeps: Please do not contact the governor and demand he signs the bill, stay polite, if you don't know how to word things, check with Butch, Todd or Craig first. They're easy to reach on Facebook. Being rude to some one who's already halfway on the fence about this bill won't help us at all. Thanking the people who voted for this bill in the house and senate is great, acting like little kids who didn't get their sucker towards people who voted no will get us nowhere in the future, there's still other bills that need to be pushed in the future!
The bill has hit the governors desk. He has 5 days to sign or veto. If he fails to do either, it will become law without his signature. So, by Saturday we should know something. RYP has decided to just hang back (lobbyist suggestion, I believe), there isn't a big campaign to contact the governor. If you want to contact, by all means you can, but please be respectful and just encourage him to sign it. I've got a bottle of Stone Ruination waiting to celebrate.... or drown my sorrows.
best of luck to you guys. my short time living there was torture. I still remember spending a ton of money in FL on beer to tide me over.
The bill hit the governor's desk on Monday April 2. He has until the following Monday to veto the bill or sign it. If he signs it, it becomes law. If he ignores it and the 5 business days pass, it becomes law. The only thing that can stop it now is a veto.
He has a lot on his plate right now, I can easily see him just ignoring it. Don't get me wrong, I want this to pass really bad but there's way more important things going on demanding his attention right now
If he ignores it until Monday, I believe it passes. I think he has to actually veto it for it not to pass.
Awesome. Great news for Mississippians. However, I can't help but play devil's advocate on this issue just a bit, so, can somebody please just explain to me...yo what's wrong with the beer we got?
WOOOOOOO. We'll be celebrating at the Keg and Barrel this evening if any of y'all are in Hattiesburg.
