Craft beer lovers celebrate passage of California growler-refill bill

“Ongoing legislative changes in California would make it easier for craft beer consumers to pick up a jug of suds,” as Brewbound.com and others are reporting.

“House Bill 647 clarifies the language used in the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Act to allow the state’s beer manufacturers to refill resealable “growlers” brought by consumers to the brewery, regardless of that growler’s origination. The dispensing brewery would need to comply with a set of specific rules, including a requirement that it re-label a growler from a competing brewery with its own marker.

“The California state senate unanimously approved the AB-647 by a vote of 39-0 on Monday. Tom McCormick, the executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA), which helped to introduce the bill, believes that Governor Jerry Brown could sign the amendments into law as soon as next month.

“’My guess is that he will probably sign it before the legislative session ends on September 16, but he does have 30 days,’ said McCormick.”

The rest of the article is here.

Read craft beer is booming in the Sierra Foothills and Truckee-Tahoe. Here’s a video about the craft beer boom in Sonoma County: