Gourmet beer bill

I am a member of Free The Hops, the group pushing the gourmet beer bill being considered by the Legislature. I also happen to be a Southern Baptist, and as such, I would ask you to correct a serious error in the article "More liquor on Sunday, in beer being debated" in the Feb. 21 issue.

The article has this to say about the gourmet beer bill: "Sponsored by Rep. Thomas E. Jackson, D-Thomasville, [House Bill (HB) 196] would more than double the alcohol content in beer, referred to as gourmet beer. Currently Alabama law prohibits the sale of beer with an alcohol content of more than 6 percent, but Jackson’s bill would increase the content to 14.9 percent."

That is simply not true. The only thing the gourmet beer bill will do is allow some new, very expensive, higher alcohol beers to enter the state. While our (recently amended) bill would allow beers with as much as 13.9 percent alcohol by volume to be sold in Alabama, the vast majority of beer sold in Alabama would still fall under 6 percent alcohol. I believe it is a serious error to state in a published article that "HB196 would more than double the alcohol content in beer."

As a fellow Baptist, I ask you to please correct this error.

Danner Kline
Vestavia Hills, Ala.

Editor’s Note — The article correctly reported the maximum amount of alcohol content for beer legally sold in Alabama is now 6 percent. The article also correctly reported that the Gourmet Beer Bill (HB 196) would raise the maximum level of alcohol content for beer legally sold in Alabama to 14.9 percent. An amendment to the bill later reduced the maximum amount of alcohol in beer to 13.9 percent which is still more than double the currently allowed maximum. The article in question deals with legal amounts of alcohol allowable in beer and, therefore, is correct. HB 196 passed the House March 4 and has been sent to the Senate.