Jester King Craft Brewery Sues TABC | JesterKingBrewery.com

So the folks over at Jester King just posted their press release copy to the blog.  I recommend giving it a good read.  Here's a snippet:

We have sued the TABC because we believe that its Code violates our rights under the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

The reasons given are very valid, in my opinion, and I've made no qualms about my irritation and impatience with the Texas politicians' inability to rectify antiquated laws regarding beer in any conversation on the topic. To put it simply, the rules and laws are stupid.  Example:

Under the bizarre, antiquated naming system mandated by the TABC Code, we have to call everything we brew over 4% alcohol by weight (ABW) “Ale” or “Malt Liquor” and everything we brew at or below 4% ABW “beer”. This results in nonsensical and somewhat comical situations where we have to call pale ale at or below 4% ABW “pale beer” and lager that is over 4% ABW “ale”.

 This is just foolish, to me.  It's like calling any automotive vehicle over, say, 200 inches in length is called a "Truck," and anything under is a "Sedan"...well, does that really make a station wagon a truck by vehicular terminology?  No.  Does that make an old, tiny pick-up a sedan?  No.  Stupid, I tell ya!

Also, the inequalities between the liquor, wine, and beer industries on standards of behavior (also outlined in the press release) are grossly unfair and unacceptable.  The simple fact that a winery can have a full-pay tasting room on-site, sell for off-site consumption, *and* sell through distributorship, yet breweries can't even tell people where they can find their product on shelves, much less sell any to them right then and there just gets my blood boiling.  I'll reiterate my opinion:  It's stupid!

And, please, don't let me get started...instead, go read the post.  Import rules are, in short, also stupid.


I am wholly interested to see where this goes, if the JK guys FULLY follow through on this, and if this actually causes any kind of change whatsoever in the system as it is now.  We can only hope.

If you are still here and haven't clicked the links above, here's your last chance!

***EDIT:  Link to the legal draft.



If you can't tell by either previous posts or my insufficient voracity of varied enhancers, I'm an engineer, not a writer.  My vocabulary is limited to that which I have capacity on a given day, directly proportional to quantitative intake of caffein and inversely related to my current state of irritation and indignance.  Read:  I just got back from a loooong week in Vegas, I'm tired, and I'm busy; therefore, no fancy words.