In Florida, microbreweries are growing, creating customer demand, profits and new jobs. In 2007, there were only seven such craft breweries in the entire state; by year’s end, nearly 90 will be open for business.
Don’t worry, though, Sunshine State legislators are hard at work … getting in the way of work, snuffing out any whiff of economic success and the jobs that come with it.
Sen. Kelli Stargel’s Senate Bill 1714 just passed the Republican-dominated upper house. It slaps new regulations on brewers to the delight of beer distributors.
Sen. Jack Latvala dubbed SB-1714 “an attack on craft beer to protect distributors.”
“We’ve got this industry that’s growing,” noted an official with the Florida Brewers Guild. So, he wondered “why are we putting arbitrary restrictions on how they can grow and how their business model operates?”
“This bill is not going to limit their growth,” maintained Sen. Stargel. “We are not restricting one single craft brewer and we are not limiting what they can do. I know they don’t believe it.”
Yet, currently Florida’s craft breweries can sell as much of their beer as they want. Under the bill, they’re limited to 20 percent of total production. The remaining beer would have to be sold through — you guessed it! — a distributor.
“I know my kids don’t believe it when I tell them they can’t do something, but sometimes I know it is what’s best,” Stargel offered. “I believe this is what is best for their industry.”
Beer is a good business … that only politicians could screw up.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.