To get back into grade school book report mode. “What I learned at the Beer Blogger Conference about changing beer laws”
So here goes. Craig Hendry (who I sat next to for a few sessions during the conference) from Raise Your Pints Mississippi painted a grim picture of craft beer in his state. First to sign up for prohibition and last to repeal on the state level. Hovering around 40% of the counties are dry and ridiculously low ABV and ABW limits on beer created and brought into the state.
But as he talked, the tone grew ever hopeful. Beer festivals are taking place. Some government officials are willing to buck the religious dogma and back craft beer. Even Tennessee is pushing hard to be the eastern home of Sierra Nevada.
Now Raise Your Pints even has a lobbyist! Fine tuning a law here hopefully won’t require that level of pushing and shoving but what I gleaned most was that if this challenge is to succeed I need the California Small Brewers behind the cause to get this done.
And more importantly, I learned that you REALLY have to listen to the people on the other side of the argument. Because we all want to be heard and maybe there is a compromise to be found that can move forward speedily whereas an “all or nothing” mentality will just stall. Sound like anyone in Washington DC we know?
This one session really created hope. There are people in this country fighting bigger fights against entrenched foes and all we in California need to do is nip and tuck a little here and there.