On this day in 1933, the first brews were legally sold following prohibition – a movement that, at its end, saw even its original proponents lobbying to repeal it. As it turned out, Prohibition did more damage than good – creating the niche for highly organized crime and spawning some of the most notorious criminal masterminds in American history. We learned a valuable lesson from Prohibition: restricting people’s right to choose is a bad thing; and that typically the people pushing hardest for restrictions are those who stand to gain the most from it (in the case of Prohibition, the gangsters and racketeers).
Today, our state still struggles with the lingering effects of Prohibition – most notably in the form of laws that restrict our smallest and most innovative brewers from reaching the marketplace. Brewpubs are not allowed to sell to wholesalers. Production brewers are not allowed to sell you a six-pack at the brewery. Out-of-state brewers are treated preferentially by Texas alcoholic beverage code. And none of this in the name of consumer protection or the welfare of the state – but rather the protection and welfare of a handful of multi-million dollar businesses who seek to build the biggest and best walls in order to defend their castles.
A significant number of the wholesale-tier members, who have traditionally been against the reforms we seek, have had the same revelation as John D. Rockefeller Jr., Pauline Sabin and the Women’s Moderation Union had in the late 1920s: they would best be served having a part in the future of the alcohol industry, rather than protecting a system which serves to enrich the organized few.
We were proud to stand beside members of The Beer Alliance and the Licensed Beverage Distributors of Texas in support of HB 660 before the House Licensing Administrative Procedures Committee. Support from the wholesale-tier was echoed by endorsements from the Texas Restaurant Association (Retail-tier), in addition to countless consumers. Every tier of the beer industry is in favor of our bill (and recall, there are actually five tiers when you count consumers and the state itself) – even the state, which stands to gain much-needed tax revenue as its small breweries grow and the overwhelming majority of Texans agree it is good policy. Please, make another call to your State Representative and members of the LAP Committee and ask them to support HB 660 on this day, the celebration of American’s right to choose.
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Not that they didn’t believe us, but the Austin American-Statesmen fact checked statements made by Rep. Villarreal (HB 660’s Author). The verdict: the Representative is rated as true!
