Editorial: Distillery bill bottled over Assembly tiff?

Distillery bill bottled ?over Assembly tiff?|

Make it a double.

That’s what California booze distillers were ordering this week after a state Assembly bill to allow them to sell spirits directly to consumers stalled over what was essentially the equivalent of a barroom quarrel between two legislators.

But the ramifications of this political squabble have more at stake than who’s got the next round.

For decades, California distillers have had their hooch-hands tied to Prohibition-era regulations that require three separate “tiers” for the distribution of hard alcohol – producers, wholesalers and retailers.

In the tiered system, everyone plays a role: producers make the firewater, wholesalers distribute it to retailers, and those retail shops sell it to 19th-century card sharps, hard-boiled gumshoes, and the rest of us.

But in recent years, as the wine and craft beer industries have blossomed at tasting rooms and breweries across the nation, small-time distillers without big-time distribution deals have been asking: Hey, why can’t we sell our wares on-site like wineries? What’s the difference?

Well, the wholesalers in the alcoholic beverage industry would have quite a profit hangover if manufacturers and consumers cut out the mash middlemen – and the money its lobby donates to certain Sacramento politicians would buy a lot of rounds at the Capital Building local.

But AB1233, a bill authored by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), would loosen the restrictions on spirits and craft brews (a frothy industry in Levine’s 10th district, which includes Petaluma and southern Santa Rosa) so that distillers could sell small amounts directly to consumers, and brewers could offer off-site tastings at community events.

All seemed to be going as smoothly for AB1233 as a sip of 14-year-old Scapa, until Levine’s bill came to committee and was tabled (for further study) by the committee’s chair, Adam Gray (D-Merced).

Reading between the lines of a Santa Rosa Press Democrat story on the brew-haha, the reason behind the stalling of the ‘stilling bill was possibly because, well, Gray and Levine don’t like each other very much. At the very least, it’s safe to say they’re not drinking buddies.

As the story goes, Gray was recently removed from a committee chaired by Levine (after Gray got his way on a bill opposed by Levine), and questions arose as to whether there were hard feelings between the two.

Well, a week later, Levine’s distillery bill stalls in a committee chaired by Gray... coincidence? One would certainly hope so. But Levine and supporters of his distillery bill are crying foul.

Fred Groth, along with wife Amy, runs HelloCello & Prohibition Spirits, a craft-spirits distillery located in Sonoma. The Groths launched their line of limoncello a few years ago and are branching out to other spirits. They’ve readied a sleek bar at their Eighth Street East warehouse in anticipation of AB1233’s loosening of restrictions on sales – but Monday’s Assembly maneuvers may mean they’ll have to put a cork in any grand plans for the time being.

Groth says he and other distillers were “stunned” by the turn of events.

“I cannot think of why a (tabling of the bill) would take place other than the influences of his contributors who are against the bill,” said Groth. “If there was another reason I would love to hear it”

Distillery bill supporters are quick to point out that over the past three years Gray has received more $50,000 in contributions from the alcoholic beverage industry, with upwards of $13,000 coming from national liquor wholesaler Southern Wine & Spirits alone.

Levine chalked the whole mess up to Gray’s loyalty to alcohol-industry lobbyists – as opposed to any personal bad feelings between the two legislators – which may well be the case. But Levine – who has found himself on the bad side of fellow Democrats in the past due to snarky comments – also compared Gray to a weasel, which leaves one wondering if the “hard stuff” bill was a victim of hard feelings.

Whatever the case, Groth believes the result is setting back a “burgeoning industry.”

“Think about where the California wine industry would be without the ability to sell to consumers. There would be no small wineries or accompanying tourism,” Groth said. “California’s laws are behind most other states when it comes to supporting the growing distillery movement”

And all that small distillers are left with now is a sour taste in their mouths worse than cheap scotch.

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