Texas Breweries Hoping for On-Site Sales

The Texas Brewers Parity Amendment, HB1062, aims to give Texas breweries the right to "sell ale...manufactured or bottled on the permitted premises to ultimate consumers... in unbroken packages for off-premise consumption in an amount that does not exceed 35,000 gallons annually."

To-date, breweries have been unable to sell product directly to consumers - Texas wineries won the same battle several years ago. The bill was filed on Feb., 10, 2009 by Representative Lon Burnam of Tarrant County, while Senator Wendy Davis filed the same bill, SB754, in the Senate.

Distributors and retailers have opposed previous legislative attempts, suggesting a loss of sales from consumers migrating directly to the breweries. With 9 microbreweries across the state, the bill's supporters suggest those losses would be negligible.