To Beer or Not to Beer

I never noticed that a microbrew that is made in Texas cannot be sold in grocery stores or liquor stores, and was interested to find out that the legislature is currently debating HB 660, which, if passed, would allow microbrewers to sell their crafts off their premises.  Currently, state laws for alcohol date back to post-Prohibition times, which divide the industry into 3 categories:  Distributors, breweries and retailers.  It is currently against the law for any one person/entity to own businesses in more than one of those categories.  When brewpubs were legalized in 1993, they were considered retailers.  And because of these old laws, a brewpub is unable to distribute its own beer within the state of Texas.  Seems like a good idea to change the laws and allow brewpubs the opportunity to sell outside of their establishments, right?

After recently reading about lobbying in the State of Texas, it was interesting to see it in action.  It seems that most everyone feels that allowing microbreweries to distribute and sell their own crafts is a great idea, except for the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas (WBDoT).  I haven't been able to find any reason why the WBDoT are so against this law, but these guys are a huge lobbying group and appear to have clout.  Their clout may outweigh their lack of reasoning in this matter, and they may be able to sway the legislature to vote down HB 660.  These types of things usually are reduced down to money, so I would guess that the big guys are fearful of losing market share to the little guys.

What doesn't make sense is that a microbrewery in another state can distribute and sell their crafts in Texas, but a microbrewery in Texas cannot. Perplexing that other states have the craft beer market cornered in Texas.  Surely the legislature can see this?

Allowing Texas craft beers into the market would increase sales of an in-demand product, and bring in more revenue for the state. The people get their beer, the state gets money.  Free flow of beer and money, sounds like a slice of heaven.