The Beer-to-Go law went into effect September 1 after a long, protracted legislative battle.
September 4, 2019, 11:14 AM, CDT
On Sunday, September 1, just in time for Labor Day, breweries across the state toasted to a long-awaited landmark moment: The Beer-to-Go law finally went into effect, allowing Texas craft brewers to sell beer directly to customers.
Before Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1545 in June, breweries had the right to sell on-site but were prohibited from selling beer to go. (Wineries and distilleries have long been allowed to sell on-site.) With Abbot’s signature, Texas became the 50th state to legalize the arrangement for breweries, shifting the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the appointed public agency charged with regulating and taxing booze in the state for the last 84 years, into the 21st century.
With 820 new laws spawned by the 86th session of the Texas Legislature, few inspired the sort of sudsy kumbaya that was seen in the Texas Senate when the bill passed unanimously, ushering in a new standard for Texas’ independent breweries. The bill’s Republican co-sponsor, Senator Dawn Buckingham of Lakeway, summed up the legislation, which was attached to the TABC sunset review, on the Senate floor back in May. “This amendment is more than just about selling beer to go,” Buckingham said, crediting Representative Eddie Rodriguez of Austin, her Democratic counterpart in the House. “It is about job creation, economic development, tourism, and support for entrepreneurship—issues that I know that are important to every one of you.”
The success of Beer-to-Go largely reflects the growing influence of Texas’ craft beer community, which extends to hundreds of specialty brewers in cities large and small, most of whom are part of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, the nonprofit trade group that represents more than 250 small-to-medium sized breweries statewide. Combined, according to the national Brewers Association, small, independent brewers in Texas—individual businesses that produce 6 million barrels of beer or fewer per year—accounted for an economic impact of $4.5 billion in 2016.
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