Editor’s note: This story was updated at 10 a.m. Friday, March 9 The plaintiffs in a complaint challenging the constitutionality of two state laws involving beer distribution and franchise laws have filed a brief opposing a state motion to dismiss and transfer the case. The brief filed by the plaintiffs — Craft Freedom LLC, The...
Craft brewers say North Carolina is suppressing growth and have filed a complaint saying that two state laws are unconstitutional and nothing more than economic protectionism. The complaint, filed Monday in Wake County Superior Court, seeks a permanent injunction against enforcement of the state’s distribution cap and franchise laws. It says the distribution cap and...
Rep. Chuck McGrady, R, Henderson, tried hard to smile this week while presenting the plundered remnants of House Bill 500. The bill, which at first carried much hope and optimism for beer brewers, ended looking much like a Kmart toy aisle on the last day of a going-out-of-business sale. All the good stuff was gone....
RALEIGH — One state lawmaker is making a last ditch effort to give craft brewers a break from restrictive distribution laws. Rep. John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg, on Monday said he wants to reach a compromise on House Bill 500, which was gutted last week of a provision that would have lifted the cap on the 25,000 barrels...
It would be hard to find a more blatant example of cronyism than the North Carolina law forbidding brewers who produce more than 25,000 barrels per year from selling their products directly to retailers. The law serves no legitimate purpose and exists for two reasons only: to protect the national and international beverage conglomerates from...
Craft beer and small breweries have grown well beyond niche markets. What was once a novelty is now ingrained in a culture that prefers local products emphasizing quality over quantity. Yet North Carolina brewers — and to a larger extent the state’s distillers — are entangled in a mess of rules and regulations, including government...
Grover Norquist is using his considerable influence to push North Carolina lawmakers toward reforming restrictive laws governing craft beer. Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, is calling for an end to the state’s “protectionist, anti-consumer restriction on craft brewery self-distribution.” Norquist in 1985 founded ATR, which promotes a system in which taxes are simpler,...
