Archive for: March 3, 2008

Once they heard that HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, was coming up for a vote tomorrow, ALCAP, self-titled as “Alabama’s Moral Compass,” issued the following Legislative Alert:

Please contact your Representative TODAY to encourage him/her to vote “NO” on the Budget Isolation Resolution (BIR) so that this bill will not even come up for a discussion or vote!

Now, I object to lots of legislation crafted down in Montgomery, but I don’t think I’ve ever suggested that a bill shouldn’t even be discussed. A BIR is basically a vote on whether or not to vote on a bill. The history and details aren’t something I want to get in to right now, but before a bill can be voted on tomorrow, they must first pass a BIR on the bill. The BIR requires a 3/5 majority. After that, they vote on the bill and a simple majority will pass it.

Heck, I even link to ALCAP above so you have the opportunity to go and read their [wrong] side of the story for yourself. ALCAP’s website doesn’t seem to even mention Free the Hops by name.

The Gourmet Beer Bill should be debated on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives tomorrow. The bill would allow the sale of more styles of craft beer in Alabama by raising the allowed ABV in beer to 13.9%. PLEASE, if you support this legislation, find out who your state representative is and tell them that you want them to vote “YES” on House Bill 196, the Gourmet Beer Bill.

I know most of you have probably been bored to death about my posts on Free the Hops and craft beer, but I have to quash any people who may come here and assume we’re just trying to get “more bang for the buck” out of beer. First of all, I wouldn’t spend the hundreds of hours I’ve spent on this if I was just out to get drunk faster. Believe it or not, my name is Dan and I’m not a misguided and desperate alcoholic. More importantly, though, the claim that higher gravity beer is “more bang for the buck” is a myth anyway.

Here’s a graph that Free the Hops put together on the price of alcohol in different beverages:

Let’s also mention the fact that most of these high gravity beers aren’t really suitable for your “pound a 12-pack” sessions. I don’t drink more than one 10 oz bottle of Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout at a time personally. It’s like a meal in a bottle.

If you really want to prevent people from slamming down 12 beers before climbing into a car, ban Budweiser, Miller, and Coors. These beers are cheap, taste mostly like water, are suitable for mass consumption, and are the only 3 beer brands I ever see in the hands of alcohol abusers.

Look, I don’t want anyone to ban the American lagers I listed above. As long as you aren’t endangering anyone, I think you should be able to drink whatever you want. Just please show me the same courtesy and ask your representative to vote for our bill. I really don’t want to have to listen to the same dribble from legislators again.