A tall iced tea and
a glossy magazine was
all she required.

• • •

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What gives you pleasure?
Is it intellectual,
physical or more?

• • •

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When spouses become
singles. When daughters become
caretakers. And on.

• • •

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Graft flowed to outstretched
hands, while the downtrodden fought
for their measly crumbs.

• • •

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A look at Birmingham in videos …

“Havoline Football Saturdays” aired a report last week called “Ever Faithful — The Resurrection of UAB Football.” From Raycom Sports.

•

The Raycom report didn’t mention the behind-the-scenes power struggle between UAB and the UA Board of Trustees, but host Tim Brando included this note following the segment. From Joey Watson.

•

The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham and UAB Sustainability created this bike safety video. From UAB Digital Media.

•

Reporter Jack Royer remembers Birmingham radio legend Doug Layton. From Jack Royer.

•

Springville country singer Trey Lewis performs “Back in Birmingham.” From Trey Lewis.

•

“Dining Out With Comedienne Joy” on the 2015 Taste of Birmingham. From Comedienne Joy.

•

UAB at No. 10 Oklahoma, Sept. 2, 2006. From Tim Bliss.

•

A day at the driving range with John Wesley Hardin Jr. From Zaida Ricklen.

•

Rock band Def Leppard performs “Love Bites” in June at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham. From d bear.

•

Center Point’s Dan Sartain performs “Sinking in the Shallow End” at the Syndicate Lounge downtown. From Spectra Sonic Sound Sessions.

•

A look at Birmingham-Southern tailbacks Shawn Morris, Joe Moultrie, Isaac Nichols and Samir Usman. From T7GTTMvids 16.

•

Memphis rapper Young Dolph visits Birmingham. From RobGreenTV.

•

Nashville rapper Jelly Roll signing autographs after his show in July at Zydeco on Southside. From 226 Film Production.

•

A glimpse of the March Quilts, more than 450 squares sewn into seven quilts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. From the UAB Department of Art and Art History.

•

Feeding giraffes at the Birmingham Zoo, shot on a head-mounted GoPro. From Mrs. Mitch.

•

Summer days of fun. From Marison and Micah Clayton.

•

Promo for the Lego Americana Roadshow Tour, coming Aug. 20 to the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover. From General Growth Properties.

•

North Carolina indie pop duo Sylvan Esso performs “Coffee” in March at WorkPlay in Lakeview. From Jeff Paiml.

•

Demo reel for sports anchor/reporter Melissa Kim at WIAT 42. From Melissa Kim.

•

Georgia rapper Young Hustla performs at the High Note on Southside. From Young Hustla.

•

Jitney cab. From Steve K.

•

Driving through Southside and Hoover. From Luz Clemente.

•

Playing Breakout Birmingham. From Scott Neumann.

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.

IfIhurryI-
canreadallmysummerbooks-
beforeschoolstartsback.

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Cheryl Joy Miner

The following chapter is an excerpt from Birmingham author Carla Jean Whitley’s “Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” [aff. link]. She is a features reporter at Alabama Media Group, a freelance writer and a journalism instructor at the University of Alabama and Samford University, plus a good friend.

This is her third(!) book in 13 months, and the second to be featured on this site. (Read an excerpt from her book, “Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.”) “Birmingham Beer” traces the century-long rise and fall and rise of local brewing.

In this excerpt, Whitley takes us behind the scenes of the real battle, not in Birmingham but in Montgomery …

• • •

Chapter 6, Brewery Modernization Act

Free the Hops initially identified alcohol limit and container size as its top priorities. After the success of the Gourmet Beer Bill, the organization considered continuing along that path. However, lobbyist Michael Sullivan recommended launching the Brewery Modernization Act instead. Because 2010 was an election year, the Gourmet Bottle Bill was unlikely to see much attention. However, the brewery efforts stood a better chance as a pro-business, economic initiative.

Dan Roberts, of both Free the Hops and Alabama Brewers Guild, explained that the Brewpub Act of 1992 was insufficient because it was so difficult to find an approved location. He, too, expected fairly quick progress with the Brewery Modernization Act since it focused on business operations rather than the alcohol itself. “We are severely limiting the growth of an industry that is finding success and creating jobs in other states,” Roberts said to the Birmingham News. “It’s really about making an environment more friendly for business, which ordinarily we would all be in favor of.”

Five Alabama production breweries were in operation as the Brewery Modernization Act made the legislative rounds in 2011. But if visitors wanted to tour Good People, Madison’s Blue Pants Brewery, Huntsville’s Yellowhammer Brewing, Old Black Bear Brewing or Straight to Ale Brewing, they could admire brewing equipment without appreciating the fruit of its labor. State regulations meant breweries were unable to serve even a sample on site. And by 2011, all brewpubs had closed.

“Why are breweries and brewpubs under different legislation? At the end of the day, they both manufacture beer,” Stuart Carter said to the Birmingham News.

“Everything about it [the Brewpub Act of 1992] is set up to make a brewpub fail,” Carter told Birmingham magazine. Why should 21st-century businesses be bound to Prohibition-era precedents? The proposed legislation would loosen the historic district requirements and allow taprooms in breweries. But the Brewery Modernization Act, which passed the Senate, didn’t get a final vote in the House because time ran out.

“Alabama law will not allow us to even charge $5 for a tour followed by free beer tastings like they can at wineries. Why are we treated differently?” Craig Shaw asked the Birmingham News. Shaw was brew master at Avondale Brewing Company, which was gearing up for business as the legislation went through the 2011 session.

That wasn’t the only lost opportunity. Because of the existing laws, Alabama breweries — and therefore the state itself — missed out on tourism dollars, proponents said.

“In many states, breweries are tourist destinations. Our phones are ringing and our email inboxes are filling with travelers looking for interesting places to stop while heading to the beach, in town for business, or looking for places to take their out-of-town guests. Currently we must deny their request for tours or to sample our products at the brewery,” the Alabama Brewers Guild wrote in its statement supporting the Brewery Modernization Act.

“That’s what it’s all about — enabling Alabama business to grow,” Roberts, the ABG’s executive director, explained to the Birmingham News. “If you go to other states, taprooms are the most common things in the world. Tasting rooms and tours are the way small breweries grow their brand. When you’re dealing with beer on this level, it’s not a commodity like the big beer brands.”

“At a time when we need more job creation and economic activity, our laws are preventing growth in one of the industries that is trying to grow here,” past Free the Hops president Stuart Carter said to the Birmingham News.

“It’s taken the hard work of hundreds of craft beer makers several years to change things. Of the 50 million cases of beer sold in Alabama last year, wouldn’t it be better if more of that revenue stayed in this state?” Back Forty’s Jason Wilson asked the News.

The city’s existing brewery and brewery-in-the-making both hoped to utilize freedoms a successful bill would offer. The repeal of brewpub laws would allow for on-site taprooms at Good People, Avondale and any breweries to come.

“At the end of the day, it’s about two things: economic development and competitiveness for Alabama businesses. It’s a travesty we can’t have a group of tourists stop by our brewery, show them around, sell them a pint of beer, talk to them about our brewery and Birmingham, tell them which grocery stores carry our products and recommend a great lunch stop or a hotel. We are constantly contacted by out-of-town people wanting to stop by the brewery to buy a pint of beer, and upon our explaining the restrictions of Alabama law, I doubt many people take the exit off of I-65,” Good People brewmaster Jason Malone told Black and White City Paper. He noted that taproom revenue would help subsidize brewery growth.

Likewise, the paper noted that breweries could stimulate growth in other ways. “Avondale Brewing’s [Coby] Lake says that he and his partners advocate SB 192 because they have spent considerable dollars to renovate a building that could easily become a hotspot in a Birmingham neighborhood that has been challenged for years,” the paper’s Chuck Geiss wrote.

Free the Hops’ Gabe Harris explained in the same article:

“The Brewery Modernization Act will help create jobs and revive dying neighborhoods in local communities. In addition, this bill allows brewpubs to provide tours and samples, which in turn would increase receipts from such taxes that go straight into Alabama’s education fund. Existing data supports how the earlier legislation has benefited the businesses that are now carrying these beers and all the things that our opponents once railed against simply haven’t happened.”

Budweiser Boycott

The act’s proponents ran into another obstacle before the bill could come up for vote, and a surprising one: an area distributor. In April 2011, Birmingham Budweiser, the local Anheuser-Busch distributor, worked against the bill. Gadsden’s Back Forty Brewing co-founder Jason Wilson said distributors worried that, with breweries being allowed to sell beer on premises, larger breweries like Anheuser-Busch and Coors could challenge the three-tier system. That system requires manufacturers to sell their beer to distributors, which then sell to stores. If breweries were permitted to self-distribute, Wilson explained to the (Mobile) Press-Register, distributors could see their business decline.

Free the Hops (by then 1,700 members strong) quickly called for a boycott of all beer carried by Birmingham Budweiser, which meant not only avoiding products such as Budweiser but also national and even local favorites, including Back Forty.
Harris told Black and White City Paper:

“Anheuser-Busch and their individual distributors have every right to work the legislature against the Brewery Modernization Act. They can be opposed to a jobs-creating, economic development bill that would benefit local business. They can oppose craft beer and Free the Hops. But the craft beer community and Free the Hops can oppose them, too. Anheuser-Busch products and products from their distribution network are now banned from Free the Hops events. This will have its first big effect on the Rocket City Brewfest and will continue with the Magic City Brewfest unless the Brewery Modernization Act becomes law in a form we find acceptable. The state can support many more breweries and we think it is in the best interest of consumers, the economy and the state to see [the legislation] move forward.”

(In 2012, the Alabama Wineries Association called for a similar boycott on beers distributed by opponents to a bill that some said aimed to create an exception to the three-tier system for wineries alone.)

It wasn’t a decision Free the Hops members took easily, the organization’s Stuart Carter explained to the Birmingham News:

“The only power we have is the content of our wallets. What we’re saying with this boycott is we as consumers don’t want to be channeling profits to wholesalers who are using those profits to prevent other consumers from getting the beer we want to drink. This is hurting friends, either friends we know or friends who brew the beer we love to drink. The problem is they’re the innocents in this who are caught in the crossfire.”

Those beers would have been excluded from Huntsville’s Rocket City Brewfest and Birmingham’s Magic City Brewfest had negotiations not resulted in a compromise prior to the events. But within weeks, the parties reached an agreement. Free the Hops conceded to maintain a distinction between brewpubs and production breweries. As a result, breweries were allowed to offer tastings without restriction or an additional license, but sales were limited to on-site consumption. Draft-to-go must still be purchased elsewhere. Brewpubs, on the other hand, still faced a number of the existing restrictions. Some were modified: the historic requirement was expanded to include economically distressed areas as determined by the municipality, not just a historic building; they were allowed to sell to wholesalers for outside distribution; and while a restaurant was still necessary, the minimum seating requirement was eliminated. This compromise was necessary in part because distributors wanted the brewpub license to remain special and limited.

On the Free the Hops blog, Alabama Brewers Guild executive director Dan Roberts wrote that the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw (R-Madison), favored the economically distressed area addition. “Does an area with an empty building — a building that would be perfect for a brewpub — constitute an economically distressed area? That’s up to a city council,” Roberts wrote.

In addressing the media, he explained that the compromise was preferable to the alternative. “It will not be everything we wanted, but it is definitely a workable solution and represents a significant improvement over the current restrictions,” he told the Birmingham News. “We were not going to get everything we wanted. The bill we ended up with is still a vast improvement over what we currently have.”

Jason Malone echoed those sentiments in an interview with the paper. “Anything in the right direction is better than the current status quo. Obviously, some compromises did have to be made, and while we would have rather not had to give up anything that we were going after, that’s not realistic.”

Moving Forward

Birmingham Budweiser became a top-level member of Free the Hops after the gourmet beer boycott, and the legislation gained forward momentum. On June 1, 2011, the Brewery Modernization Act passed the Senate and awaited Gov. Robert Bentley’s signature. Many worried that he would veto the bill, but Bentley explained that responsibilities as governor differed from those of state representative. “When I represented my local community, I voted against Sunday alcohol sales and things of that nature,” he said to the Birmingham News. “As governor, it’s a little bit different. I don’t feel I should impose my views on everybody in the state. The legislature has had a chance to look at it and passed it. I’m sure I will sign it.”

He did so, and Free the Hops again celebrated success. “It’s the biggest change in Alabama brewing laws since the repeal of Prohibition,” then Free the Hops president Gabe Harris told the Associated Press. The bill was expected to result in more breweries and brewpubs opening in the state. The bill opened up the viability of the businesses by creating additional revenue opportunities.

“The state will be able to print a beer tour map of the state where people can go from Huntsville to Mobile visiting brew pubs and breweries,” Carter said to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Kline also rejoiced in the organization’s success. “We went from taking 5 years on a bill to taking 2 years on a bill,” Kline said. “There was starting to be some clear economic impact from craft beer that people could see and quantify. Free the Hops had gained the reputation of only advocating bills that do good things, as opposed to bills that do bad things. So it got easier each time,” Kline said.

The economic impact was evident almost immediately: The state’s brewery production increased by 672.19 percent in the year following the bill’s passage. Following the passage of the bill, brewpubs were able to sell beer to wholesalers, which could then distribute the beer. It didn’t stop there. Between 2012 and 2013, United States breweries increased production by nearly 15 percent, and in Alabama, the growth was even more significant: at 22.35 percent. “The thing that I think has spawned all of the growth in the industry is the taprooms. That really gives you a ready revenue source rather than having to wait 30 days for a wholesaler to pay,” Good People Brewing Co. co-owner Michael Sellers told the Associated Press. He said the brewery’s taproom would create additional jobs, and his business partner, Jason Malone, indicated expectations for continued growth. “I’m excited about where the market is headed in Alabama as people get more tuned into how much better craft beer is. We’ve come a long way and I think this trend is here to stay,” he said to the Birmingham News as Avondale prepared to open.

Although Avondale debuted later that year, it was far from the last brewery to reap the legislation’s benefits. Although only five breweries existed in Alabama as the Brewery Modernization Act began circulating through the legislature, thirteen were in operation by 2014.

In 2014, Alabama Brewers Guild president and Back Forty co-founder Jason Wilson attributed that to the act. “So when you prohibit these small microbreweries from doing things like selling pints at their production facility, that’s the difference between a profitable and an unprofitable business model. The slightest restriction you impose on them can mean the difference between it being successful and failing,” he told Business Alabama. “Since these pieces of legislation have passed, we haven’t seen a single brewery shut down in the last five years. That’s a testament to the impact this legislation has had.”

• • •

Carla Jean Whitley has book signings for “Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” throughout the rest of summer and fall:

• Thursday: 4-7 p.m., Trim Tab Brewing Co., Lakeview
• Saturday: 2-4 p.m., Books-A-Million, Brookwood Village, Homewood
• Aug. 12: 5:30-7 p.m., Neighborhood Hops and Vine, Homewood
• Aug. 13: 5:30-7 p.m., Neighborhood Hops and Vine, Crestline Park
• Aug. 14: 5-7 p.m., Little Professor Book Center, Homewood
• Aug. 15: 1-3 p.m., Vulcan Park
• Sept. 4: 5-8 p.m., Good People Brewing Co., Southside
• Oct. 9: 7 p.m., Hoover Public Library

“Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” (July 27, Arcadia Publishing)

• Website | Amazon [aff. link] | iTunes [aff. link] | podcast on Birmingham Shines | feature on ArtsBHAM

Carla Jean Whitley

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @inkstainedlife | LinkedIn | Instagram

Photo: Danel Solabarrieta (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for Aug. 2, 2015:

• Y’all Connect: Download our 2015 photo app for free
• These One-Person Businesses Have Cracked $1 Million by @ElainePofeldt (RT @tferriss)
• A Manhattan McDonald’s With Many Off-Menu Sales, by @Kim_Barker (RT @MrEddieHuang)
• Flashback: 4 years ago, Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 21
• Recommended books on leadership by female authors, by Kimberly A. White @whiteoi
• Poet Claudia Rankine: “Invisibility of black women astounding,” by @CocozzaPaula (via @ColumbiaSchArts)
• How to make an awesome slide deck, and why you don’t need it
• The Evolving Role of News on Twitter and Facebook (RT @spann)
• The Girl Who Survived The Brain-Eating Amoeba, by Peter Andrey Smith @PeterSm_th
• Books: Excerpt from Carla Jean Whitley’s @inkstainedlife “Birmingham Beer” 🍺
• The Original Ghostwriter Behind Nancy Drew, by Marissa Visci
• The Immigrant Families in Limbo, by @JeffreyToobin (via @melaniesiow)
• Excerpt from @TaNehisiCoates’ “Between the World and Me” (RT @BooksLIVESA)
• Why porn stars are so much better than you on Twitter, by @Kelsey_ML (RT @bsgpr)

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Such sights to behold

The latest #sundayread tweets

#sundayread Tweets

• More #sundayread recommendations from me

Living a robust
perpetual denial
about growing old.

• • •

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The to-do list will
never be done. The good news
is we’ll all be dead.

• • •

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The molecular
structure of all things breaks down
in this goddamn heat.

• • •

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First party agrees
to extra cheese, while second
party requests ham.

• • •

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Bits of freeway fell
in storms of debris as cars
shook the bridges loose.

• • •

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A loner with an
agenda finds almost no
support for changes.

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A look at Birmingham in videos …

Keep Birmingham weird? From Igor N. Rykov.

•

An Oxmoor Landing homeowner deals with flooding. From Lisa Antoine.

•

Skateboarding around town in the late 1990s. From Haoyan of America.

•

The first Sloss Music and Arts Festival, filmed on a GoPro Hero 3 and an iPhone 5s. From Anagrace Salem.

•

Birmingham City Schools Band Camp 2015. From Magic Moody Films.

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Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit performs “Emmylou” at Sloss Fest. From Seth Nelson.

•

The Avett Brothers performs “Walking for You” at Sloss Fest. From Donna Gobbell.

•

Attendees of the first Magic City Con this weekend at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center share their experiences. From Starnes Publishing.

•

Celebrating Birmingham Black Marriage Day in March at the Harambe Room downtown. From CaptuREAL Photo and Design.

•

Soca artist Island Rooster performs at Caribbean Day in June at Linn Park downtown. From Island Rooster.

•

A look at WWE Smackdown earlier this month at the BJCC Legacy Arena downtown. From SmackTalk420.

•

Attempting to fly into the Birmingham airport through a major storm. From Brandon Snider.

•

The competition during June’s Magic City Mega Bowl disc golf tournament at George Ward Park. From The Disc Golf Channel.

•

Promo for OnBoard Birmingham, a program to help regional employers recruit and retain young professionals. From Birmingham Business Alliance.

•

Brandy Wood talks about her guide dog, Rascal, and her work at the Southeastern Blind Rehabilitation Center on Southside. From Starnes Publishing.

•

A look ahead to the Birmingham Bowl’s 10th anniversary celebration on Dec. 30. From Birmingham Bowl.

•

Michael Greer lacrosse highlight reel. From Susan Bryan.

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Promo for art pieces on Railroad Park from photographer Ginnard Archibald and painter Joseph Longoria. From Ginnard Archibald.

•

Speeches from a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this month at Good People Brewing Company on Southside. From Left in Alabama.

•

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World performs “Polaris” and “The Kill” earlier this month at Saturn in Avondale. From Thomas Kreutzer.

•

A family’s summer outing to the Birmingham Zoo. From Ken Lee.

•

Tennessee country artist Shelby Lee Lowe performs in the Battle of the Bands earlier this month at Tin Roof in Lakeview (our vertical video of the week). From Dollar Bill Lawson.

•

Primus performs “My Name is Mud” at Sloss Fest. From Mike Wallace.

•

Artist Yaacov Agam signs his recently restored “Complex Vision,” a massive kinetic sculpture on the side of the Callahan Eye Hospital on Southside. From UAB News.

•

More. Sloss. Fest. From Pedroam Marashi.

•

Support group UAB Connections holds Dinner in the Dark in June, giving blindfolded diners an opportunity to experience a meal with a visual impairment. From UAB News.

•

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.