Georgia Beer Rising - Part 2

@GeorgiaTrend has a nice comprehensive overview of #GAbeer and its obstacles.

"According to the Beer Institute, Georgia’s brewing industry generated $3.5 billion in direct economic impact in 2012. That number includes breweries, distributors and retail sales. $1.9 billion of that number was generated by breweries alone. It sounds like a lot, but when you compare that to other states, some of which have three times as many breweries within their state lines, Georgia’s craft brew industry is still in the fermentation stage. Colorado’s beer scene, for instance, is an economic powerhouse, generating $14.8 billion in economic impact. Closer to home, North Carolina sees $7.1 billion in total economic impact."

The underlying tenor of the article is a positive one for those who want to change the current state laws that hamper micro and craft brewers.  By going straight to the source of Georgia's craft beer advocacy, the message of "change" gets some much needed highlighting.

“Georgia is way, way, way behind the rest of the country when it comes to craft beer,” says Pinkerton, who is also president of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. “All these new companies are starting up. They’re very small, and the barrier to entry is still really challenging in Georgia. Everywhere else in the country, you see their growth and you compare it to Georgia’s growth, you can really only point to one thing.”

No one is further out on the bleeding edge of trying to reduce those barrier of entry that then Georgia Craft Brewers Guild.  If you want to see this as well, I suggest you pop on over and become a member.

But perhaps the best part of the article was the statement of one big depressing fact...

“There are more breweries in the city of Asheville, North Carolina, alone than there are in the state of Georgia,” Pinkerton says. “Let that sink in for a second. More breweries in one rural small town in North Carolina than there are in the entire state of Georgia. What does that tell you?”

“Georgia has one of the most restrictive laws pertaining to microbrewing in the whole nation at this point,” says Freddy Bensch co-founder and “Big Kahuna” of SweetWater Brewing. “Everyone else seems to be embracing it and is proactive in trying to bring in new breweries and helping their breweries expand. But Georgia seems to be sort of lagging and stuck behind.”

Now, if only politicians in Atlanta would listen to reason...