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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Free the Hops called a cease-fire in a beer battle as the organization prepares compromise legislation with the support of the state’s beer wholesalers that had been targeted in a boycott.

Dan Roberts, vice president of legislative support for the grassroots beer-lovers’ organization, said a new bill is expected to be introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives’ economic development and tourism committee this week that contains key provisions of the Brewery Modernization Act while conceding some elements to wholesale distributors.

Roberts said in an interview Monday the bill would make it easier for commercial brewers to get a brewpub license that will allow them to have tap rooms and tasting rooms for those touring their breweries. Today, brewers can’t serve their products on premises, only produce beer to be distributed to retailers.

“I think it will definitely improve the situation,” Roberts said of the compromise bill. “It will still have some of the key components.”

Originally, Free the Hops wanted to lift most restrictions on breweries and brewpubs to allow a brewery to produce beer to sell in stores, operate its own restaurant and sell its beer at the brewery for customers to take with them.

The compromise bill would allow breweries to get a brewpub license that would permit a tasting room or a small restaurant attached to the brewery, but would limited selling beer for consumption there. The main brewery could keg, bottle or can its beer only for distribution to retailers.

The legislation would require a brewpub to be located in an historic building or an historic district, though it would open up any location a local governing body deems to be in an “economically distressed” area.

Roberts said the compromise was preferable to an alternate bill supported by the state’s beer distributors that never made it into a legislative committee. He said distributors such as Birmingham Budweiser and Huntsville’s Turner Beverage have said they will support the compromise bill.

Efforts to reach a spokesman for Birmingham Budweiser were unsuccessful Monday.

The compromise ends a boycott Free the Hops launched April 22 against the state’s largest beer distributors claiming they along with beer giant Anheuser-Busch were behind efforts to block the Brewery Modernization Act, which passed the Alabama Senate as SB192.

The boycott was aimed at Budweiser, Busch and Michelob products and included some craft beers and specialty brews with higher alcohol content that Free the Hops helped make legal. Many of those craft brewers use distributors to get their beers onto store shelves.

Roberts said the breweries still have to give approval to the compromise, as does the bill’s sponsor in the senate, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison. If all approve, Roberts said the bill could find its way into the committee as soon as today. “It will not be everything we wanted, but it is definitely a workable solution and represents a significant improvement over the current restrictions,” he said.

Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Tomberlin at mtomberlin@bhamnews.com.

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