Bar owner sues Florida over 64-oz growler legalization

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JENNIFER THOMAS

An example of a 64-oz and a 32-oz growler shown at the Craft Tasting Room & Growler Shop in Charlotte, N.C.

Wade Millward

Reporter- Tampa Bay Business Journal

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While Tampa Bay craft breweries look to the Legislature to challenge unfavorable alcohol laws, a South Florida bar has taken the fight to the courts.

The Crafted Keg, based in Stuart, sued the state Tuesday over a law banning half-gallon beer containers, also called growlers.

According to state statute, vendors can't serve beers served in containers holding between a quart and a gallon.

This includes the 64-ounce growler, an industry standard container banned in only two other states, according to the lawsuit.

This creates an arbitrary and unfair competitive advantage for larger beer sellers, the suit alleges. The law is arbitrary because it serves no public interest, like it would if it curtailed drunk driving. The advantage is larger beer sellers can afford larger packaging sizes for beer, such as in six-packs and 12-packs, unlike craft breweries, according to the suit.

"In a state that depends on tourism, being out of the step with the rest of the country costs craft beer businesses money," the suit said. "The law is irrational."

Representing the bar is a regional office of the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit based in Sacramento and affiliated with the Koch family, known for its titular multinational corporation and political donations to conservative causes.

"A jug is not a public menace," the suit said. "Growlers don't drink and drive. People who drink too much alcohol drink and drive. And there are laws on the books to address that concern. The growler prohibition does not address it."

In Tampa Bay, beer distributors, once thought to oppose changes in the law for fear of brewers infringing on their business, have been voicing support for the Legislature to allow half-gallon growlers.

"We all agree that a growler is a sampling instrument that should be legal," Pepin Distributing CEO Tom Pepin told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in August.

Wade Millward is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.