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Beer-to-go is on the cusp of becoming law. The Texas Senate unanimously passed the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Sunset Bill Wednesday night, just hours before the time ran out to ratify new legislation.
Brewers are confident the legislation will skate through the governor’s office, meaning that beginning Sept. 1, Texans will be able to purchase growlers, crowlers and cans at their neighborhood breweries, to consume at home.
“Oh man, I feel so much better this morning than I did yesterday morning,” John Holler, who owns Holler Brewing along with his wife Kathryn, said early Thursday morning.
“Now it looks kind of silly, but I have to admit I was getting a little doubt creeping in,” said Holler, a board member of the Craft Brewers Guild, and a key part of the push to help Texas become the nation’s 50th state to allow beer-to-go sales. “We had all the assurances it would happen, but you just never know, and it was really coming down to the wire there.”
In Texas, sunset bills require that the Legislature vote to extend policies or programs every few years, lest the programs expire. It’s also a natural point in time during which the Legislature will review the way the program or policy does things. In addition to beer to go, the changes ratified in the TABC Sunset bill this time around include increasing the number of liquor permits any liquor outlet can hold to 250, while a move to legalize the sale of alcohol before noon on Sundays fell flat.