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[Paul Jones <pjones AT metalab.unc.edu>]

Somehow we missed passing on this story from NandO which was published on
Friday or so it says -- perhaps we were out hoisting a few with friends.
Go Jeffery go!


http://www.newsobserver.com/sunday/features/wup/Story/806635p-804421c.html

Published: Friday, August 3, 2001 4:33 a.m. EDT

Beer Here
A 6 percent solution?

By JULIE BRADFORD, Correspondent

Did someone pass a law saying you can't get good beer in North Carolina?
No, they didn't and you can, but Jeffrey Hoffman wants to know why he
can't get the good beer he wants.

Specifically, he's so fed up with state laws limiting beer choice that
he's launching a citizens campaign to get the laws changed.

North Carolina is one of four states that limit the alcohol content of
beer to 6 percent by volume, the lowest limit in the country. This means
that many world-class beers cannot be sold here, and North Carolina
breweries cannot experiment with styles of beer that are higher in
alcohol.

Among beer lovers, the concern is not alcohol content per se -- if it
were, there are cheap sources of strong alcohol on any grocery store or
ABC shelf. But alcohol is one important component of flavor. Doubt it?
Taste a mass market lager (say, a Bud), next to its low alcohol sibling
(Bud Light). Even between these two relatively unassertive beers, the full
strength alcohol version is clearly more flavorful:  Alcohol carries that
flavor.

The world's traditional strong beer styles -- strong ales, barley wines,
German bocks, Belgian tripels and many more -- are not for casual or
everyday drinking, nor are they for every palate. They are expensive,
filling beers to be enjoyed slowly and by the glass, not by the six-pack.
For beer lovers, these beers occupy a special place in the list of beers
for special occasions, seasonal events and the times when a mundane beer
just won't do.

Hoffman's experience is one many beer lovers will recognize. He came of
drinking age in Chapel Hill. "When I went to college, everybody drank
boring beer, whatever was available. Then I went to Europe. I traveled in
the Netherlands and Belgium." There, he discovered the extraordinary beers
made by the six Trappist monasteries that still brew.

"I really got into Trappist beer, like La Trappe tripel," Hoffman recalls.
"All of a sudden, I was enlightened! Then I came back here to North
Carolina, and all I could get was the [weaker La Trappe] dubbel. I could
get anything in New York, Virginia, almost anywhere, but not North
Carolina. That's when I learned about the laws here."

Hoffman hopes that a grass-roots campaign will persuade lawmakers to
support a bill to lift or eliminate the 6 percent ceiling. Visitors to his
Web site (http://webslingerz.com/jhoffman/beer) will find arguments in
favor of changing the law and the names of their state representatives to
contact.

On paper, the change would be straightforward: "The problem is all in the
definition of a malt beverage," Hoffman says. North Carolina General
Statutes read: " 'Malt beverage' means beer, lager, malt liquor, ale,
porter, and any other brewed or fermented beverage containing at least
one-half of 1 percent (0.5 percent), and not more than six percent alcohol
by volume." Eliminate the phrase "and nor more than six percent" and we
join our neighbors in Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland -- states
where frustrated North Carolinians go for a broader selection of beer.

But if the change seems straightforward, in political terms it's anything
but. Spare a thought for Georgians for World Class Beer, whose
well-organized efforts to change Georgia's 6 percent law have failed two
years running.

The first attempt, in 1999, passed in the Georgia House, but got buried in
the Senate. "The Georgia Brewers' Guild did not support the bill the first
time," guild president John Roberts said, "because of the way the bill was
worded." It named specific (traditionally high-alcohol) styles that could
be brought into the state, rather than simply removing the 6 percent limit
across the board."

Presumably, this provision served the purpose of getting beer lovers the
high-end craft beers they were missing, without increasing permitted
alcohol in the political hot-potato category of cheap malt liquors.

The bill also doubled the tax on any beer over 6 percent, something the
state's brewers opposed. "We estimated that the new tax might bring in
$70,000, but that it would cost the state more than twice that to
administer," Roberts says. "I want to brew some styles that come in at 8
or 9 percent. It wouldn't have been worth it to be buried under
paperwork."

The second, much simpler attempt the following year fell foul of interests
who oppose alcohol in all forms. Mark Nelson, one of the Georgia
campaign's organizers, summed up the problems: "Timing is everything. It
was an election year.  The bill hit the floor the day after the governor
spoke out on drunk driving and underage drinking issues. Even though there
is no connection between those issues and ours, people tend to link all
alcohol in their minds. Legislators were soap-boxing on our bill, showing
how tough they could be on all alcohol issues."

Back in North Carolina, Hoffman is not the first person to try to change
the law. But with sufficient grass-roots support and the benefit of
others' experience to guide him, he might succeed. "Duvel [an outstanding
Belgian beer] is my favorite beer. I just want to be able to buy it here
at home."

Julie Bradford, the N&O's beer columnist, is editor of All About Beer
Magazine. You can send questions or announcements to her at
ulie_aabm AT mindspring.com.