Texas Craft Brewers Need Your Help!

By 1993, 41 states allowed for the operation of brewpubs–small, restaurant/taproom focused breweries selling all or a majority of their beer onsite directly to consumers. Pioneering brewers had been working for a few legislative sessions to pass a bill legalizing brewpubs in Texas and they succeeded in 1993 with the passage of HB 1425. The new license allowed brewpubs to brew up to 5,000 bbls of beer annually and sell that beer directly to their customers for enjoyment onsite or to-go. Today there are 250+ brewpubs operating across Texas.

A package of 2013 bills supported by the Texas Craft Brewers Guild brought sweeping reform, creating a modern framework for craft beer in Texas. For the first time, brewpubs gained the right to sell their beer outside their own premises—doubling their production cap to 10,000 bbls per year, which could be sold to retailers like grocery stores, convenience stores, bars, and restaurants, including up to 1,000 bbls of self-distribution. Meanwhile, craft breweries producing less than 225,000 bbls of beer annually gained the right to operate an onsite taproom, selling up to 5,000 bbls of beer per year for on-premise consumption. These changes ushered the Texas craft beer scene into the modern age and spurred massive industry growth in the years that followed.

The 2019 legislative session marked another milestone for Texas craft beer with the legalization of beer-to-go sales from breweries. This reform allowed customers to purchase beer directly from breweries to take home, fostering greater accessibility and consumer choice. It was a significant step forward in aligning Texas with all 49 other states that already permitted such sales. Beer-to-go passed as an ammendment to 2019’s TABC Sunset bill which streamlined brewery licenses and introduced commonsense updates to the Alcoholic Beverage Code. To-go sales were a particular lifeline to breweries forced to close their doors to on-site guests during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This coming session is an opportunity for the Texas Legislature to expand rights for Texas Brewers and grow our state’s craft beer industry. Please join us in supporting bills that would open new paths to market, cut unnecessary red tape around the movement of products between commonly owned locations, and lower the tax burden of small businesses who are supporting Texas Ag producers.