As the Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill on Wednesday night, craft brewers in the state are getting closer to their goal to sell beer to-go. Up to now, state law does not allow to take away beer while visiting an operating brewery in Texas. However, this rule does not apply in the same way for wineries or distilleries.This is much to the consternation of breweries and beer fans who would like to bring beer home to enjoy later. Texas is the only state in the nation with this type of law which still stems from the Prohibition Era.
For more than five years, craft breweries fought to change the law but were blocked by powerful distributor lobbying groups that saw a potential threat to their profits.
In February, the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and the Beer Alliance Of Texas (BAT), one of Texas’s two distributor lobbying groups reached an agreement that would allow to-go sales from breweries under certain conditions. Therefore, the way was now open for a legal change. However, the House still has to approve the Senate's amendments before the changes go into effect.
