Lawmakers have offered several proposals to repair the broken, outdated way the state governs alcohol through the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system. About a dozen bills, in fact, are moving through the General Assembly, and one, House Bill 363, the Craft Beer Distribution and Modernization Act, is now law.
Please, send this one back. It tastes bitter. Opponents of measures that would relax North Carolina’s arcane — punitive, even — ABC laws are running out of new arguments, which are becoming more pervasive, more hard-edged. The clock, they know, is ticking.
Gentry Lassiter and his wife, Rebecca, run a small distillery on the main street in Knightdale. Lassiter Distilling Co. is the epitome of a small business, which the couple built just a few years ago. The Lassiters procure molasses, yeast, and other…
