Tennessee state Senator Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) has proposed changes that would affect the sale of ""certain high alcohol content beverages"—a term not currently defined in the legislation.
In the past 24 hours, there has been significant discussion among middle Tennessee craft beer enthusiasts about Tennessee Senate Bill 2167 (with companion House Bill 2783) and what effect it may have on sales of high gravity beer. Most notably, Nashville attorney Craig Mangum drafted a post criticizing the bills at his Beer Law Blog.
The bills—which are identical in their Senate and House forms—compel the alcoholic beverage commission to promulgate rules and regulations that would limit the volume of “certain high alcohol content beverages” that retailers could sell to a single customer in one day.
Legislation was passed last May (and was ultimately signed into law) that in part defined “high alcohol content beer” as a beer, ale or other malt beverage having an alcoholic content between 5 percent and 20 percent. The last line of the summary of this session’s proposed legislation includes the line, “Present law defines ‘high alcohol content beer’ as a malt beverage having an alcoholic content of more than 5 percent by weight and not more than 20 percent by weight,” leading many craft beer enthusiasts to question the intent of the new, vaguely worded bill.
FledglingBrewer.com contacted the office of state Sen. Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) for clarification on the purpose of the bill, and received the following response from Finney staff member Colby Sledge on Friday afternoon.
“This bill does not target high-gravity beer in any way, but instead is meant to address the sale of pure grain alcohol (i.e. Everclear). An 18-year-old woman in Sen. Finney’s district died from alcohol poisoning as a result of ingesting Everclear, and he is looking into ways to keep such a tragedy from happening again. To my knowledge, he does not plan to run the bill in committee this week, as he is still working on it in order to limit its impact and focus to Everclear.”
Sledge also included links to the following articles in the Jackson Sun about the aforementioned incident and Sen. Finney’s intentions with the bill.
Jackson Sun: ” ‘It’s just wrong’: Officials question sale of 190-proof Everclear, retailer pulls product from shelves”
Jackson Sun: “Deadly Consequences: Family, Friends Target Highly Potent Liquor in 18-Year-Old Girl’s Death”
Jackson Sun: “Family Looks for Accountability”
Representative Steve McDaniel (R-Parkers Crossroads) is the sponsor of the House version of the bill. An assistant to Rep. McDaniel responded to FledglingBrewer.com’s request for clarification with the following: “Senator Lowe Finney asked Rep. McDaniel if he would be interested in carrying the House companion to SB 2167, and Rep. McDaniel agreed to do so. As I understand it, this is not the final language of the bill, and at some point, the bill will be amended.”
While high-gravity beer does not appear to be the intended target of this latest proposed legislation, this situation bears watching over the short term by those hoping to ensure craft beer does not get entangled in the bill’s final language.
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