State capitol overflowing with beer bill supporters

PHOENIX — Supporters of Arizona’s Beer Bill rallied outside the State Capitol Monday. More than 100 proponents of Senate Bill 1030 attended the event as well as legislators including the bill’s sponsor Senator Kelli Ward.

“It’s time to pop the cap off success,” Ward said. “I stand proudly for opportunity for all and freedom from government red tape.”

The proposed law would allow microbreweries to produce more beer without surrendering their retail licenses. Under the current law, craft brewers could lose their retail locations, restaurants and pubs if they produce more than 40,000 barrels of beer per year.

“We’re asking that we can take our retail with us, take our pubs and restaurants with us; we can’t have any more and we’ll have to go through a distributor to get to them,” Andy Ingram, Four Peaks Brewery co-founder, said.

Ingram said the current producer’s license allows unlimited production of beer but could hurt business. He called it an unfair trade for successful local business owners.

“For Four Peaks, we would have to close our North Scottsdale store and our airport location and put 150 people out of work,” he said.

Opponents of SB 1030 believe the bill gives microbreweries special privileges and unfair advantages over larger producers, distributors and retailers.