BeerBorg

Nice! Would love to see the US pass laws prohibiting foreign monopolies from owning/buying/selling beer companies in the US! Especially laws to block them from buying up LHBS'! I'm shocked to actually see the CA politicians doing the right thing. (not political statement, just.... shock)

This is a good first step toward equity and fair trade. Obviously, the Big Boys will either try to stop it or else devise new end-arounds to circumvent it, but the most hopeful thing is that the Crafts are pushing back and making their concerns known, and the State is recognizing them and taking action.

I hope it spreads nationally.

The problem that exists is that states have very different regulations that in some states really blurs the lines between Tiers 1, 2, and 3. When AB/InBev merged, the US had the chance to force them to divest distributor ownership they have in roughly 15 states, and instead restricted future ownership. Some states have very loose regulations, some much tighter. The big boys know what they can get away with in each state.

It is good to see SOMETHING being done.

In other California brewery news, Speakeasy has suddenly ceased operations.