According to the Wall Street Journal, a fight in the Colorado legislature has been going on over a bill that would dismantle Colorado’s “great beer divide,” which since 1993 has limited the sale of beer with higher alcohol content to liquor stores, restaurants and bars. Supermarkets and convenience stores have had a monopoly on beer with less than 3.2% alcohol by weight, which is equivalent to 4% by volume. Now, they want in on the stronger stuff.
In 2010, Coloradans purchased nearly six million gallons of lower-alcohol beer, compared with 104 million gallons of higher-alcohol beer. The beer laws were enacted after Prohibition to keep the most intoxicating brews away from teens. The Coors Light sold in supermarkets is actually a lower alcohol content than those sold in liquor stores, though the brewer says the taste and packing is nearly the same.
Groups representing supermarkets and convenience stores are planning petition drives, newspaper ads and automated phone calls to drum up public support for their push to eliminate this beer divide, said Mark Larson, who runs a trade association for Colorado convenience store owners.
On the other side of the argument, liquor-store owners predict financial disaster if they lose their monopoly on strong beers. Beer accounts for 60-70% of sales at most liquor stores in the state, said Jeanne McEvoy, who runs an industry trade group. She predicts that if the rules were changed 1,660 liquor stores would go out of business, putting thousands of people out of a job.
State Rep. Larry Liston, a Republican who is spearheading the drive to change the beer rules, says debate in the House is likely to be intense. “This is a monumental undertaking.”
