Brewnanza

Today, Iowa governor Chet Culver signed the passing of the Iowa Beer Equality Bill–finally allowing Iowa craft breweries to create brews over 5% ABV. This previous restriction didn’t apply to out of state brewers with distribution within Iowa but any brewer based out of Iowa could not create anything too strong.

Out of state breweries were already selling these higher-proof beers in Iowa, but in-state breweries were restricted to a 5% cap. A movement for Iowa Beer Equality arose to remove the competitive disadvantage Iowa breweries faced. The passing of SF 2088 now allows Iowa brewers to sell many more styles of beer.

Certainly, this is a win for everyone. From the business perspective, this new ordinance gives craft breweries in Iowa the freedom to create more diverse genres of beer, ones traditionally with higher ABV such as porters or barleywine. For the consumer, well, that’s a no-brainer: there’s going to be more beer to drink! I wonder who is going to take advantage of this first.

(via Charlie Papazian)

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