Free The Hops | Alabamians For Specialty Beer (FTH) is a grassroots, non-profit organization whose mission is to help bring the highest quality beers in the world to Alabama. These beers are commonly referred to as craft beers due to the skill and artistry required to brew them, but they are also appropriately classified as specialty or gourmet. You might think of them as the Mercedes of beers.
The Trappist beers of Belgium are excellent examples of the beers FTH seeks to bring to Alabama. These beers which are made by Trappist monks include Chimay Grand Reserve, Westmalle Dubbel, Orval, and Rochefort 10 to name just a few. Savored and enjoyed like the finest wines or scotches, they are inarguably among the best beers in the world.
You may have never heard of the Trappist beers because currently none of them are sold in Alabama. Yet our neighbor to the east, Georgia, sees all of these specialty beers plus many, many more. In fact, only 1 or 2 of the top 100 beers in the world (as rated by BeerAdvocate.com) can be found in Alabama.
And it might surprise you to find out that these fine beers made by Belgian monks are prohibited from being sold in Alabama. By law, they simply cannot be sold here. That is what FTH is trying to change. We want to give Alabamians the option to choose the Mercedes of beers.
The world’s finest and most expensive beers are prohibited in Alabama as result of the state’s current alcohol by volume (ABV) and container size limits for beer. Visit our missing beers page to learn more about how FTH is seeking to change these laws and bring world class beer to Alabama.
The Alabama Restrictions
The world’s finest and most expensive beers are prohibited in Alabama as result of the state’s current alcohol by volume (ABV) and container size limits for beer. Beverages defined as beer under Alabama law can contain no more than 6% alcohol by volume (ABV) and can be sold in containers no larger than 16 ounces.
Meanwhile beverages defined as wine can contain up to 24% ABV and have no container size restrictions. (Note: Under Alabama law, wine is further divided into “table wine” which has a limit of 14.9% ABV and “fortified wine” which has a limit of 24% ABV.) Likewise, liquor can contain up to 100% ABV and can be sold in any size container under Alabama law.
The ABV Restriction
The Current ABV Law
The 6% limit appears once in The Code of Alabama, in §28-3-1(3), addressing the regulation of alcoholic beverages. That section contains the following definition:
“BEER, or MALT OR BREWED BEVERAGES. Any beer, lager beer, ale, porter, malt or brewed beverage, or similar fermented malt liquor containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume and not in excess of five percent alcohol by weight and six percent by volume, by whatever name the same may be called.”
The Gourmet Beer Bill
In the 2006 and 2007 Alabama Legislative Sessions, FTH proposed the following Gourmet Beer Bill which would have changed the limit on beer to that of table wine in Alabama. FTH will be proposing this same bill in the 2008 Alabama Legislative Session.
“BEER, or MALT OR BREWED BEVERAGES. Any beer, lager beer, ale, porter, malt or brewed beverage, or similar fermented malt liquor containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume and not in excess of five percent alcohol by weight and six fourteen and nine-tenths percent by volume, by whatever name the same may be called.”
This minor change is all it takes.
The Container Size Restriction The container size limit appears once in The Code of Alabama, in §28-3A-23(g), addressing the regulation of licenses for selling alcohol. That section contains the following rule controlling retailers licensed by the state to sell alcohol:
“All beer, except draft or keg beer, sold by retailers must be sold or dispensed in bottles, cans or other containers not to exceed one pint or 16 ounces.”
Alabama is the only state in the country with this peculiar restriction. FTH supports the removal of this regulation, but has not introduced any legislation to change it and has no immediate plans to do so.
Additional Restrictions
Beer brewing and sales in Alabama are further restricted in other ways. For example, brewpubs in Alabama must meet the stringent requirements of being located in a historical building. They must also be located in a county in which beer was brewed for public consumption prior to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919. Breweries which distribute beer and the practice of home brewing face similar antiquated restrictions in Alabama.
FTH supports the removal of these and other arbitrary restrictions on beer brewing and sales.
American Pale Ales (APAs) are among the most popular craft beers consumed in the United States. It seems Americans are always driven to do things bigger and better than they’re done in other parts of the world, and producing craft beer is no exception. So, while built upon the tradition of English Pale Ales, APAs are characterized by a more assertive hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. Most versions are made with distinctive American hops which tend to have a notable sharp citrus or piney character, such as Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial and Columbus hops (in contrast to English hops which tend to have a more subtle and subdued earthy and floral character in beer).
