Dan Perry’s craft breweries had been selling curbside food and beer since mid-March, but the governor’s “stay at home” order issued a week ago may have been the last call for the time being.
Forced to lay off 63 people, the taprooms at Straight to Ale in downtown Huntsville and Druid City Brewing in Tuscaloosa are quiet. The kegs are full, but there are few customers for the beers.
Perry and others in his industry along with downtown advocates see an easy fix. Unlike restaurants and other industries in Alabama, the more than 50 craft breweries in Alabama are at a distinct competitive disadvantage: They are unable to bring their products to a customer’s doorstep.
“It seems like an easy and simple ask,” said Perry. “So far, it’s been met with ‘not at this time.’”
Chad Emerson, president and CEO of Downtown Huntsville Inc., in an AL.com Opinion piece last week, urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to utilize her emergency powers to allow for the home deliveries. He noted that since the pandemic began, governors in other Southeastern states – Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia – have done so.
“This is about saving jobs and keeping businesses open,” said Emerson. “Curbside is available but it’s counterintuitive to staying home.”
The governor’s office referred comments to the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Dean Argo, spokesman with the ABC Board, said the state law prohibiting deliveries or shipment of alcohol to a private residence requires legislative action to overturn.
“The Alabama ABC Board recently enacted an emergency rule that gives on-premise licenses some flexibility in selling alcohol with ‘to go’ orders,” said Argo. “However, ABC Board rules, regulations and emergency rules do not and cannot override state law.”
Angling for state help
A sampler of initial Serda Brewing beers in downtown Mobile. Serda Brewing’s large outdoor beer garden seating area is shaded by large triangular, sail cloths. It is located along the highly-visible Government Street in downtown Mobile, and became the first craft brewery to open in Mobile in recent years. The industry had been expanding around the city's downtown area before the coronavirus pandemic struck. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)
Craft beermakers in Alabama are hopeful the governor’s office will consider tossing them a life line while the stay-at-home order is in place.
“Delivery is not going to replace tap room sales and draft beer,” said Dan Roberts, executive director with the Alabama Brewers Guild, who estimates the typical craft brewery generates 72% to more than 90% in sales from inside the taproom.
“I know that nationwide, almost half (of the craft breweries) won’t be able to last under three months in the current conditions,” said Roberts. “I think Alabama is probably the same. But, I guess, my thing on delivery is that while it won’t save all of them, it would help some of them. And it would also help some of the restaurants out there to sell a few more items when driving dinner out to people.”
Legislation is pending in Montgomery that would allow home deliveries of wine and beer. But similar proposals have been pitched in the past to state lawmakers, only to not advance.
Alabama, among the very few states that doesn’t allow for direct wine shipments, formed a nine-member task force last year to study the issue. Alabama is one of only three states in the U.S. that has a law prohibiting the direct shipment of alcoholic beverages of any kind (Utah and Oklahoma are the others).
State Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, said that the ABC Board worked well with state officials to allow for curbside deliveries of alcohol under the previous coronavirus-related provisions that limited the number of people gathered at one time to 10.
But lawmakers are not due back to Montgomery until April 28, and it’s uncertain if the legislation will even surface for consideration. Ivey’s stay-at-home order runs until 5 p.m. April 30.
Reynolds said he hopes some sort of exception can be worked up for the craft breweries.
“Anything we can do to help our small businesses, craft breweries and distilleries, we should give them any chance we can for them to survive,” said Reynolds.
Pushing for an exception
Downtown advocates in Huntsville and Mobile are hoping state leaders can intervene and make a home-delivery exception for the small craft breweries struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emerson said the change would allow employees with craft breweries to deliver packaged beer to people’s houses. Upon delivery, the customer would show their ID to prove they are age 21.
“This is about saving jobs and keeping businesses open,” he said.
Carol Hunter, spokeswoman with Downtown Mobile Inc., said Mobile’s craft breweries also need help given that most of them are new businesses that have opened in the past year or two. She, like Emerson, would like to see the delivery option allowed during the pandemic.
“They were losing money and were having some cash flow issues before the state at home order,” said Hunter. “Technically, I suppose they could be open to do curbside. But with a stay at home order, we are not encouraging people to be out.”
Neil Reid, a professor of geography and planning at the University of Toledo, who enjoys a reputation as the “Beer Professor,” and has studied the craft brewery boom in the U.S., said Alabama is an outlier in not allow for the home deliveries.
“State after state is adjusting regulations to home delivery and curbside pickup,” said Reid.
The prohibition in Alabama comes at a time when grocery delivery apps like Instacart and Birmingham-based Shipt are seeing a surge in demand for alcoholic beverage deliveries. Drizly, an alcoholic beverage delivery company, has seen an explosive 1,600 percent growth in year-over-year new customers at the end of March.
As Reid notes, some Southern states like Alabama have been “historically very slow in (acceptance of) alcohol in general and craft breweries in particular.”
Statistics published by the Brewers Association show that Alabama’s craft brewery industry, while relatively small, packs an economic punch.
According to the association’s 2018 figures, the state had approximately 1.1 breweries per 100,000 people, placing it 49th out of 50 states. At that time, Alabama had 41 craft breweries.
But the industry’s economic impact in Alabama was around $758 million that year, placing the state in 29th place. The breweries pumped out 71,894 barrels of craft beer that year, which was good enough for 39th.
Reid said without delivery options, though, the smaller operations that help fuel rejuvenation in urban neighborhoods could be in jeopardy.
“The bigger breweries that are able to get stuff out the door and into the supermarkets are the ones who are able to do better,” he said.
Perry, at Straight to Ale, said his business is no different with the tap room sales contributing to the lion’s share of the business.
Without people inside the businesses, alternatives such as home deliveries are needed.
“The delivery is a simple ask and it befuddles me,” said Perry. “I totally get the fact that we’re just some brewers in this thing and that the (coronavirus pandemic) is much bigger. But an easy fix to save 40 or so businesses in this state seems like a no-brainer.”