25 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

Solid meh. This is the same drama that accompanied eliminating restrictions on bottle size to keep European beer out of the Florida market.  The barriers fall eventually: brush wars get fought, fights break out, cops get called, finger prints get taken, it gets done in the end.  Been involved in the process in one form or another since the early 80s.  The craft brewing industry needs to get its act together and work our "jobs governor" and skip the small shit.  You invite him to new brewery openings so he can take credit for jobs he didn't create then hit him up to help the entrepreneurial spirit, blah, blah, blah.

 

Only one senator, Latvala, voted against the bill. I watched the whole thing. That dumb bitch Kelli Stargel had the audacity to say that the bill and the amendment to say that they were "helping" the craft brewers by eliminating the come to rest portion of the bill which means the distributors can avoid picking up any product from the brewery in able to sell it back to them.

 

What a crock of shit. She claims that it "levels the playing field" for the vendors. Bull shit it does. All it does is force breweries to pay protection to the distributors so they have the ability to sell their own ####ing product. It's legalized organized crime. And lets talk about the level playing field. Vendors don't have the overhead associated with manufacturing the product, they don't have the high labor costs, they don't have to invest in hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment to create the product. All they have to have is a store front and shelf space. Overhead is minimal except for material cost. Level playing field my ass. In no other industry does a company have to sell it's products like that.

 

And if you think this is going away you have your head in the sand. These lobbyists are paid to do this 24 hours a day. If you think they will just give up then you are sorely mistaken. The only way to win this war is to go after the three tier system and take it out once and for all and put in some regulations that make sense. Distributors are not going to go bankrupt. They won't even see a hitch in their balance sheet. We still need distributors. We don't need stupid archaic laws that will hurt small craft brewers and make Florida a less attractive state for tourism.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Son of a bitch. 1714 was amended and still made it past committee. Now they want to put a limit of 2000 kegs on breweries to sell to their consumers. If you produce more than that anything you sell to consumers with the exception of growlers and tap sales, must be sold to a distributor. So, want to roll out some bombers of IIPA? If you produce more than 1000bbl you have to sell it to a distributor, who then doesn't even have to pick up the beer or touch it, then sell it back to you for sale to consumers.

 

What a crock of shit.

The only good thing that I saw today was that more Senators recognized that this bill was garbage and more voted no, but it wasn't enough to kill the bill.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Son of a bitch. The ####ing bill passed the senate. It's going to the house now. The house companion bill got shit canned in committee. Hopefully this one will too.

[armagh]

Son of a bitch. The ####ing bill passed the senate. It's going to the house now. The house companion bill got shit canned in committee. Hopefully this one will too.

Committee meetings are over, so it won't get referred to committee.  The house will have to take up the senate bill in messages and vote on it, and there is no obligation for them to do so. They can vote it out, tack on amendments and send it back to the senate, or fail to act.  Just depends.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Committee meetings are over, so it won't get referred to committee.  The house will have to take up the senate bill in messages and vote on it, and there is no obligation for them to do so. They can vote it out, tack on amendments and send it back to the senate, or fail to act.  Just depends.

 

Yes, but it shouldn't have got this far. I'm furious with my state senator.

[SchwanzBrewer]

So here is the main thing that was amended...

 

As of now, if a brewery wanted to, it could sell ALL of it's packaged goods and draft beer in house.

 

What they want to change it to is...

 

Breweries under 1000 bbl

Can sell whatever they want in house packaged or draft or to a distibutor, no self distribution outside of the brewery.

 

Breweries over 1000 bbl

Can sell unlimited draft beer through their tasting rooms

Can sell packaged beer at their brewery up to 20% of their total production, no self distribution outside of the brewery.

 

It is far better than what was in committee, and I might go for it if it ends the war so that businesses can adapt and not have to deal with a moving line every year. Then we can lay low, build our constituency, and pounce with some three tier ending legislation. RAWR!