Five Texas craft brewing bills signed, opportunities abound in Lone Star State

Texas, once again, proves the point that everything is bigger within its state boundaries as the governor signed not one, not two, but five bills into law to changed the brewing game.

The Texas craft beer industry already gets publicity as one of the top craft brew states in the country. The state will probably vault another few spots on the list as Gov. Rick Perry signed five pro-brewing/distribution bills into law. This marks the biggest change in the state’s brewing trade in 20 years, according to the Texas Craft Brewers Guild.

If you’ll recall, we spoke with Charles Vallhonrat, executive director of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, about the prospective changes back in March. For a quick primer on how these laws, effectively immediately, will help craft brewers, here is a summary from the Texas Craft Brewers Guild’s blog:

• Gain the ability for packaging breweries to sell their products to consumers on the premise of their breweries;
• Gain the ability for brewpubs to sell their products into the wholesale tier while also increasing the annual product limit of brewpubs;
• Protect small brewer’s existing rights to self-distribute and build brand value; and
• Achieve these goals while protecting the integrity and viability of the 3-tier system.

The news has been met with rejoicing around the state. Here’s a small sample from the Houston Chronicle:

Houston, the law allowing on-site consumption at shipping breweries would have the biggest immediate potential impact. Saint Arnold, for example, plans to begin offering “special and limited edition brews” for sale during its weekday and Saturday tours.

In 2012, Texas Craft Brewers, defined as holders of a brewers, manufacturers, or brewpub license with under 225,000 barrels of annual production, produced 186,663 bbls, up 42 percent over the previous year. At Craft Brewing Business, we’re not mathematicians or fortune tellers or some combination of the two (Nate Silver?), but our guess is those numbers are going to keep moving up.