This article illustrates how alcohol deregulation is a slippery slope....
Source: Citizen Times
July 6th
Free beer could be coming to your local grocery store.
State lawmakers may soon allow retailers to offer shoppers free samples of beer the same way some offer wine.
Supporters say beer tastings would help North Carolina's burgeoning craft brewing industry advertise itself. It's a way for a brewer to gain notice in a beer aisle with expanding variety.
"You can talk about it all you want," said Highland Brewing owner Oscar Wong, "but until you get that cup to the lip, the customer doesn't really know, 'Would I or won't I like it?'"
Microbreweries like Highland could be offering free tastes soon. State law will allow tastings starting Oct. 1 if a bill authored by state Rep. Thom Tillis becomes law.
The bill passed the House this month and is moving through the Senate, where a key committee endorsed it last week.
The bill would treat beer just like wine, which lawmakers cleared for tastings in 2001. Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said wine tastings have drawn no complaints or abuse.
Criticism of his proposal comes from social conservatives who say beer has more potential for abuse than wine.
Beer is "disproportionately consumed in hazardous amounts," said the Rev. Mark Creech, director of the Christian Action League of N.C., which says beer accounts for 81 percent of all alcohol drunk in such excessive amounts.
It's also "the beverage of choice for underage drinkers," Creech told lawmakers.
Tillis has tweaked his proposal in response to those concerns, limiting tasting to four 2-ounce beers instead of six as he originally proposed.
But he says Creech's predictions are off the mark. The tastings would attract high-end, craft breweries looking to market to a wealthier demographic, he said.
If the bill passes, retailers could pay $100 for a permit to hold a tasting.
Or a brewer or vendor could pay $200 for a permit to offer tastings and sell its product at shopping malls, trade shows and festivals.
Winemakers can already obtain such permits. "We're saying, 'Just give us an even playing field,'" Wong said.
Fifteen years ago, Wong opened the first of what are now seven Buncombe County breweries, with two more on the way. Since then, state law has changed to become more welcoming to craft brewing.
A lobbying campaign persuaded lawmakers in 2005 to lift a ban that kept beers' alcohol content from topping 6 percent.
Beer with up to 15 percent alcohol content can now be sold.
With airport expansion, Richfield lost some of its parkland and some of the more pleasant sounds of summer - the crack of baseball bats, cheering and umpires making their calls.
