Saint Arnold's in the news

And here's the first of what I hope are many stories about the Saint Arnold legislative project.

"It would be so great at the end of a brewery tour to sell them a six-pack," said St. Arnold Brewing Co. founder Brock Wagner.

The Saturday tours of St. Arnold's Houston brewery routinely draw 100 to 200 people each week. "The end result would be a huge boon for microbreweries," said Wagner, who expects to spend a lot of time in Austin making small brewers' voices heard. "It creates a connection between the customer and the brewery."

There could be opposition to the proposal, however, if wholesalers consider it a possible threat to the dollars they make as middlemen.

Mike McKinney, vice president for the Wholesalers Beer Distributors of Texas, could not be reached for comment.

The dynamic of this project will change considerably if a bad guy appears. Right now, it's all about a warm, fuzzy appeal for microbreweries. If an opponent arises - and there's no guarantee that will happen, I'm just what-if-ing here - then there will have to be some negative stuff as well. I'd rather not have to go there, but that's the nature of politics. You want to go for the win-win, but you can't always get it.

Wagner said the coalition of microbrewers is not trying to steal business from distributors or retailers. St. Arnold would not be able to reach hundreds of grocery stores around the state without a distributor, he said.

However, Wagner said selling directly at the brewery puts a few extra dollars in the company's coffers for expansion or marketing and lets beer tourists walk out with the actual product instead of just a T-shirt or mug from the gift shop.

"For beer enthusiasts, making the connection between the beer and the place where the beer is brewed is very important," said Greg Koch, founder and CEO of Stone Brewing Co. in Southern California. "Could you imagine going to your local baker and not being able to buy the bread they made there?"

I'm not a big fan of the whole "framing" concept, but that's a great way to frame this issue. I'll be reusing that line during this campaign.

California breweries and brewers in several other states sell their beer to retailers through a distributor, but also sell at the breweries and brewery-owned restaurants that are much like brewpubs. The brewpub laws in Texas allow the beer to be sold only on premise and not in retail stores.

Koch said the beer culture in California and the Northwest has thrived in part because direct sales are allowed at microbreweries.

And that's what we want here, for the microbrew culture to thrive. Call me crazy, but I don't think it's that much to ask. We'll just have to see what the other interested parties think.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 17, 2006 to That's our Lege | TrackBack