Georgia craft brewers demand change in state law to sell own beer

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. - The Georgia craft brewing industry is calling for change. They want the state to relax restrictions on how they can sell beer and have launched a petition to get the attention of state lawmakers.

Doug Farrell co-owns the Skint Chestnut Brewing Company in Powder Springs. The brewery is less than two years old. Farrell says he is proud of what they have built, but they would love to do more.

"We are limited by several of the state laws that make it very challenging for us to do anything beyond what we're doing right now," he said.

Farrell says Georgia law only allows them to sell their beer at their taproom. If they want to sell it somewhere else, they have to get a distributor and Farrell says that cuts into the bottom-line.

"My goal is not to be one of these giant breweries, my goal is to be able to get beer out into my local community so that they can walk into a store or a restaurant they see my beer on the shelf, or they see it on the tap," he said.

Georgia Senate Bill 163 was introduced earlier this year. If passed, it would allow breweries like Skint Chestnut to sell their beer to restaurants and grocery stores within 100 miles. The bill failed to gain traction during the last session, but the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild just started a new petition to get support for it next year.

"We're looking for a more fair and open access to the market for there to be more flexibility for these businesses," said Joseph Cortes, Executive Director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild.

On the other side, not everyone thinks the state law should be changed. The owner of a local distribution company told FOX 5 that he believes it would be problematic if breweries could sell their own beer. He says retailers have told him that would cause issues if they had to deal with each brewery individually.

But Farrell believes the current law is harming small businesses, and he hopes it gets changed to not only help him, but also the more than 150 other craft breweries in the state.  

"We're hoping for some changes at the state level that will allow us to do this and be a little bit more competitive," he said.

Since the petition went live, the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild says more than a thousand people have already signed it.

If you want to take a look at the petition, click here.