Big box retailers are finding unlikely allies in small craft breweries to push for the most significant changes to Florida’s alcohol laws since the end of Prohibition.
The changes could make a dramatic difference in where you buy alcohol, how much it costs, and how quickly upstart brewers and distillers grow. Those opposed to the changes, however, say it could also result in monopolies, where big alcohol corporations pressure small businesses to carry only their brand.
Two proposals in the Florida Legislature would loosen distribution rules while another would allow grocery and drug stores to sell liquor for the first time.
“We are seeing major challenges to the established order,” said UCF political science professor Aubrey Jewett. “Things have changed and there are new groups that think existing regulations are unfair and restrict their freedom and right of commerce.”
Political analysts and industry insiders say after a series of tweaks in recent years, it may be time for bigger changes. The growing community of local beer and liquor makers are pressuring lawmakers to reform many of Florida’s 80-year-old alcohol laws to accommodate small beer and spirits makers and give consumers easier access to liquor. Some say the three-tier laws set up post-Prohibition to protect the industry are now stifling growth.
“There are evolving attitudes about the sale of alcoholic beverages along with a changing technology and a changing economy,” Jewett said. “If you did a poll I don’t think this would be high on consumers lists, but it’s important to all those new brewers and distillers.”
Opponents say Florida’s alcohol laws have protected both consumers and businesses for decades. The system was created after Prohibition to stop big manufacturers from monopolizing the industry. Before Prohibition, some retailers and restaurants were pressured by large alcohol makers into carrying just one kind of beer or alcohol.
That stopped with the three-tier system, in which manufacturers must use an independent distributor that in turn sells to retailers and restaurants. Every state in the Union has a similar three-tier system, although several have made changes in recent years.
The bill with the most momentum in Tallahassee would allow grocery stores and big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target to sell hard liquor such as whiskey. It’s the fifth time that change has been proposed.
So far, it has passed two state Senate committees and is up for a vote before the full chamber, while a similar measure in the House passed one committee.
“After more than eight decades, it’s safe to say the market has adjusted properly and this law (prohibiting grocers from selling liquor) has outlived its usefulness,” said Michael Williams, a spokesman for the coalition of retailers pushing to allow the sale of liquor in grocery and drug stores.
National liquor chains are opposed to the changes, including Orlando-based ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and Potomac, Md.-based Total Wine. They say it would give minors easier access to spirits.
Another proposal in the Legislature would drop limits on how much alcohol craft distillers can sell directly to consumers. A third proposal would allow new craft breweries to sell their product directly to local retailers and restaurants, a change brewers have been pushing for years.
Florida lawmakers have been tweaking the laws subtly for decades, allowing farm-based wineries to sell directly to consumers and even recently allowing craft beer makers to sell refillable “growlers” directly to consumers.
Still, established groups of distributors, retailers and big beer makers are opposing changes.
“The three-tier system was to have brewers competing with brewers, distributors with distributors and retailers with retailers,” said Mitch Rubin, a lobbyist with the Florida Wholesalers Beer Association. “Now you want to make an exception for certain businesses to give them an advantage.”
Rubin said letting craft breweries and tap rooms sell take-home containers, or growlers, is already an exception not given to big beer makers.
Momentum is growing to change laws because of trends in how Floridians make and consume alcohol, said Richard Blau, a Tampa lawyer who works on alcohol industry issues. He said local beer and alcohol is very popular and new brewers and distillers are trying to gain entry into a heavily regulated industry dominated by corporate brands.
Craft beer now accounts for 12.5 percent of national beer sales, according to the Brewers Association. The number of craft breweries tripled in Florida between 2011 and 2015, now totaling more than 150. That includes 17 in Central Florida.
Casselberry beermaker Bowigens Beer Co. co-owner Bobby Bowen say the current distribution laws are hard on his 2-year-old businesses. He said about 30 percent of sales are going to distributors.
“It would be much better for me if I could go to the local convenience store or restaurant down the street and sell directly to them,” Bowen said. “The way it is now, I have to convince them to buy through a distributor.”
Bowigens would still use a distributor to sell beer outside of Central Florida, Bowen said. About 95 percent of Bowigens sales come from its taproom, where the profit margins are much better selling beer directly to consumers by the glass.
“We have a great relationship with our distributor, but right now we don’t make any money selling kegs (to outside business),” said Bowen. “ If we could sell directly to stores and restaurants it would really help us grow.”
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