JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri craft brewers scored a victory Tuesday in their fight over a proposal that would allow beermakers to lease coolers to stores.
Negotiators in the House and Senate removed language from legislation that the Missouri Small Brewers Guild said would give big brewers including Anheuser-Busch an unfair advantage in dictating what beers could be stocked in coolers if they're leasing them to retailers.
The smaller brewing companies said that would limit access to their beer.
Negotiators working on Senate Bill 994 said they removed the cooler language because it could endanger other provisions of the measure.
"I think leaving that in kills the bill," said Rep. Justin Alferman, R-Hermann, who is sponsoring language contained in the same legislation on behalf of wine-makers in his district.
The move angered Rep. Robert Cornejo, R-St. Peters, who has been pushing for the beer cooler proposal.
"It's getting extremely frustrating, This has been four years in the making. This is a priority for me," Cornejo said.
Cornejo said he would aggressively pursue the cooler proposal next year. The main Senate sponsor is Eric Schmitt, a Glendale Republican running for state treasurer.
The three-tier alcohol distribution system put in place following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 requires brewers to contract with distributors, who then sell to retailers. Allowing beermakers to provide refrigeration to retailers weakens that three-tier system, said the guild's president, Jeff Schrag, owner of Mother's Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Springfield, Mo.
“Beer manufacturers haven't been able to provide refrigeration to retailers since Prohibition,” Schrag told the Post-Dispatch, adding many smaller brewers wouldn't have the resources to provide coolers to retailers. “If they can control refrigeration, they can dictate what goes into it. Craft beer would not have the same access.”
The statewide brewers' guild, which formed in 2012 to lobby state government on issues concerning small brewers, has 26 members. Since the cooler legislation emerged in recent months, the group added a half dozen members.
Several representatives from small breweries testified in recent weeks before legislators to oppose the cooler legislation, including Jon Shine, head of wholesaler sales at St. Louis' Urban Chestnut Brewing Co.
Since it was founded in 2011, Urban Chestnut has grown distribution to hundreds of stores and restaurants in the Midwest. Shine said proposed changes to Missouri's alcohol laws would make it more difficult for other small craft breweries to thrive.
“The legislators who are trying to pass the bill don't see the argument about having a three-tier system,” Shine said, adding the earlier version of SB 994 deregulates the system for one party, A-B.
“The beer industry right now is thriving and it's an exciting time,” Shine said. “The last thing we should be doing is giving one brewer the ability to lock out competitors.”
A-B said it supported the cooler language because it would help enhance the position of beer in an increasingly competitive retail landscape, pointing out that brewers are allowed to lease coolers to retailers in states with booming craft beer industries including Colorado and Wisconsin.
“The legislation would give retailers the ability to provide more consumer choice and also improve the customer experience by offering more options to refrigerate product,” A-B's region vice president Marcelo Abud said in an email. “This legislation would help the entire beer community in Missouri (consumers, retailers, wholesalers and brewers), just as it does in the many states that currently allow brewers or wholesalers to lease coolers to retailers."
The legislation is expected to be debated in the full Senate in the coming days. Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn Friday.
Lisa Brown • 314-340-8127
@lisabrownstl on Twitter
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