Friday morning Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill allowing stronger beer to be sold in Alabama.
Gourmet beer bill HB 373 raises the limit of percent alcohol by volume to 13.9 percent.
The bill passed the Senate 19-9 and the House 83-3 on Thursday.
For the past four years, an organization called Free the Hops (FTH) has tried to change Alabama's alcohol by volume law. FTH is a grassroots, nonprofit organization trying to bring the highest quality gourmet beer to Alabama.
The group consists of more than 1,300 members and has 2,600 subscribers to their newsletter.
"The governor's office received more than 2,800 phone calls from supporters of the bill," said Stuart Carter of Birmingham, president of FTH.
"People keep saying we want to increase the level of alcohol in beer, when really we want to increase the level of alcohol permitted in beer," Carter said. "We want to increase the variety, the choice and the quality that is available to the adult consumers of the state."
FTH said it wants to give Alabamians the chance to choose higher quality beer.
"The kind of person who appreciates gourmet beer tends to be a college graduate with a fairly high disposable income who appreciates the good things in life," Carter said. "It is also a matter of taste, not one demographic or age group."
Because of the bill, breweries now have the opportunity to brew different styles of beer.
"Our core recipes won't change because of the higher alcohol by volume content, but it would allow us to make more styles," said Jason Malone, manager of Good People Brewing Co. in Birmingham.
They now have the ability to brew any style with a percent alcohol by volume of 13.9 percent.
Carter said many businesses have already agreed to sell their products in Alabama if the law was changed.
He said there is an entire cross section of Alabama's society that enjoys good beer.
"Craft beers are a. expensive and b. too heavy to be consumed in large quantities, so college kids and teens, in relation to drinking, this is not the beer for them," Malone said.
The Alabama Citizen's Action Program (ALCAP), an organization that strives to make Alabama a safer state, opposes the bill.
"It's now characteristic of our culture to make alcohol an idol that we worship," said Dr. Joe Godfrey, executive director of ALCAP. "The beer is marketed to young people and college students, because that is the future of their business."
Riley's signature disappointed Godfrey.
He said the constant push for more alcohol, especially on teenagers and college students, is devastating.
Godfrey added that the bill is part of a bigger situation involving the level of alcohol and how much is sold.
Until this bill, Alabama was one of three states with the nation's lowest limit of alcohol by volume at 6 percent and is the only state that has a container size limit on beer, according to FTH's Web site.
Changing Alabama's container size law is FTH's next project.
"There are other legislative issues we are looking into, but now we are just enjoying the fruits of four years of hard work," Carter said.
The next step is for wholesalers to bring in new brands that they can now sell.
Belgian Trappist beer, beer from existing breweries like Rogue, Terrapin and Sweetwater are a few brands that are now allowed to be sold in Alabama.
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