COLUMBUS – Ohioans who enjoy the ever-growing variety of available craft beer and craft liquor soon could have even more to smile about.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
An effort to put craft distilleries more on par with the craft beer industry saw legislative action last week, and this week Senate leaders are expected to push to eliminate Ohio’s current 12 percent limit on alcohol in beer.
“I don’t know why we have artificial alcohol limits for beer,” said Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina. “To me, it’s a free-market economic issue. We don’t want to stifle the craft beer industry.”
Ohio’s 12 percent limit on alcohol in beer was set in 2002, when craft breweries were far rarer. Today, roughly 2,500 Ohioans work at about 190 craft breweries, more than triple the number just since 2012.
Plus, supporters note, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania have no alcohol limits on beer.
Brewdog, a Scotland-based brewer that plans to open its U.S. headquarters in Canal Winchester this summer, has 26 beers that it cannot sell in the state because of the current alcohol limit. Jason Davis, Brewdog vice president of sales, also noted recently that a liquor store just across the river in Covington, Ky., was selling 263 beers with more than 12 percent alcohol.