People love lists, and certain niche websites thrive on them. Take these lists, of course, for what they are. What they are, in most cases, are random, subjective thoughts combined with compelling photos and short, sometimes funny narratives. North Carolinians should love these lists, though, because they often praise our state in a host of...
Much of the media coverage of the continuing government shutdown has focused on stories of federal workers who aren’t getting paid. Stories about irregular inspections of our food and longer, slower lines at airports. Expect more of the same. But some things we enjoy — workers in the private and federal sectors alike — and...
About a year ago, some North Carolina craft brewers took on a couple behemoths in the state ABC system and a well-funded and entrenched network of wholesalers and distributors. The brewers, in plain terms, were fed up. They were tired of what they view as one-sided and interminable franchise contracts, sick of worrying about an...
The ongoing effort to loosen rules and regulations on North Carolina distillers, brewers and winemakers isn’t about alcohol. It’s not about drinking, nor the promotion of it. Alcohol has poisoned bodies and relationships. It has decimated families and left lasting scars. I have some of my own. Someone asked me, considering my writing on the...
News that beer distributors through political action committees poured nearly $100,000 toward defeating a bill to lift a production cap on North Carolina brewers should surprise no one. Tuesday, The Charlotte Observer, citing campaign finance reports, said from January through June the distributors gave Senate Republican leader Phil Berger $33,300 and House Speaker Tim Moore...
If your conception of freedom is that it ought only to extend to behavior with which you personally agree, you’ve conceived it out of existence.
Good for Wicked Weed. The Asheville-based brewer has sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, which, like its counterparts, is gulping down craft brewers in an apparent effort to offset waning sales for Budweiser and other mass-produced adjunct beers. Beer geeks aren’t pleased. This week Wicked Weed said it will cancel its July Funkatorium Invitational after almost 50...
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...
North Carolinians have an insatiable taste for craft beers, and they have little tolerance for lawmakers who want to tamper with how they get their stouts and IPAs. A survey of North Carolina voters bears that out. Brewers around the state, some 180 of them, simply want what’s fair. One goal of craftfreedom.org — a...
A recent John Locke Foundation Spotlight report “Hard to Swallow” by Jon Guze, JLF's director of legal studies, says North Carolina requires 43 different types of permits and licenses for different activities linked to alcohol sales.
