High-Octane Beer Bill Advances

By Bill Schneider, 2-10-09

A bill to allow Montana brewers to produce and Montana retailers to sell high-octane beer has just cleared a major hurdle in the Montana Legislature.

Earlier today, the House Business and Labor Committee voted 14-4 to send HB 400, sponsored by Deborah Kottel (D-Great Falls), to the House floor for a full vote.

Currently, Montana state law prohibits the sale or manufacture of beer containing more than 7 percent alcohol (by volume), and the Montana Department of Revenue has recently started cracking down and raiding retailers selling beer brewed outside Montana that has higher than 7 percent alcohol content. HB 400 would allow retailers to sell beer and Montana’s rapidly growing brewing industry to manufacture beer that has up to 14 percent alcohol content.

“We support this bill,” Tony Herbert, recently hired as executive director of the Montana Brewer’s Association, told NewWest.Net (MBA), this morning. “It will allow our brewers to expand the portfolio of beers they can offer.”

It would also allow, he noted, retailers to sell high-octane product made by any brewer from outside the state.

During the hearing, The MBA supported an amendment offered by Representative Paul Beck (D-Red Lodge) to make sure the law did not apply to “flavored malt beverages,” Herbert added. “We want it to apply only to real beer.”

The committee approved Beck’s amendment.

Herbert said HB 400 faces a vote by the full House of Representatives on Thursday or Friday, “so call your local legislator right away.”

If so inclined, you can click here to find the phone number and email address of your local legislator.