Ala. Senate committee votes for stronger beer

Efforts to allow the sale of stronger beer in Alabama are brewing again in the Legislature. The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee voted without dissent Wednesday for a bill that would allow the sale of beer with up to 13.9 percent alcohol by volume.

By: | Alabama's13.com
Published: February 11, 2009

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Efforts to allow the sale of stronger beer in Alabama are brewing again in the Legislature. The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee voted without dissent Wednesday for a bill that would allow the sale of beer with up to 13.9 percent alcohol by volume.

The president of Free the Hops, Stuart Carter of Birmingham,says Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia currently have the nation's strictest limit on beer at 6 percent alcohol by volume. All other states have a higher limit or no limit.

Carter says the legislation would permit the sales of many gourmet bills that can't be offered in Alabama now because they exceed the alcohol limit.

The Alabama House passed similar legislation last year, but it died in the Senate without coming to a vote.