HB581: HB581 Georgia Craft Brewery Innovation and Survival Act; enact

Georgia law currently limits how much beer brewers and brewpubs can sell directly to the public and keeps a strict three-tier system separating brewers, wholesalers, and retailers. House Bill 581, called the Georgia Craft Brewery Innovation and Survival Act, would loosen some of those limits. It removes the daily cap on how much beer a customer can buy to take home from a brewery, while keeping the yearly cap of 6,000 barrels sold directly at brewer locations. The bill creates a new category called a 'small brewer' (one whose sales to its wholesaler are 15 percent or less of that wholesaler's total sales) and lets those small brewers sell up to 3,000 barrels a year at wholesale to nearby retailers within 100 miles, using tracking software to handle taxes. It also allows brewers and brewpubs to donate beer directly to nonprofit charity events under certain conditions, and updates tax reporting rules to cover those donations. The changes would apply once the bill becomes law.

• Removes the daily maximum on how much beer a customer can buy for off-premises consumption directly from a brewery.
• Creates a new 'small brewer' category and lets those brewers sell up to 3,000 barrels of beer per year at wholesale to nearby licensed retailers within 100 miles.
• Allows brewers and brewpubs to donate beer directly to nonprofit charitable events holding a permit, with limits on quantity and requirements to return unused beer.
• Requires small brewers selling at wholesale to use electronic accounting software that tracks and remits state and local taxes.
• Extends excise tax payment and reporting obligations to cover beer that is donated, not just sold, by brewers and brewpubs.
• Updates the law on contraband malt beverages to allow exceptions elsewhere in the alcohol code.

Craft brewers and brewpubs in Georgia, especially smaller operations that qualify as 'small brewers,' along with licensed beer wholesalers and retailers, nonprofit civic organizations that hold charitable event permits, and consumers who buy beer directly from breweries.

Brewers could sell more beer directly to customers and, if they qualify as small brewers, reach nearby retailers without going through a wholesaler for those specific sales. Charities could receive donated beer for permitted events, and tax reporting rules would need to track those donations alongside regular sales.

• Section 2 adds a definition of 'small brewer' to O.C.G.A. § 3-1-2, based on sales to a wholesaler being 15 percent or less of that wholesaler's total annual sales.
• Section 3 creates new Code Section 3-5-6, letting brewers and brewpubs donate beer directly to nonprofit charitable events, with rules on quantity, return of unused beer, and transport.
• Section 4 revises O.C.G.A. § 3-5-24.1 to eliminate the daily cap on beer sold for off-premises consumption, while keeping the 6,000-barrel annual cap across a brewer's locations.
• Section 5 creates new Code Section 3-5-24.2, letting small brewers sell up to 3,000 barrels per year at wholesale to retailers within 100 miles and requiring tax-tracking software.
• Section 6 revises O.C.G.A. § 3-5-27 on contraband malt beverages to allow for exceptions provided elsewhere in the alcohol code chapter.
• Section 7 revises O.C.G.A. § 3-5-81 to require brewers and brewpubs to pay excise taxes and file reports on beer they donate, not just beer they sell.

1. 2025-02-26House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-24House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-21House Hopper (House)

• Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)Primary sponsor
• Marcus Wiedower (R, HD-121)
• Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)
• Yasmin Neal (D, HD-079)
• Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)

• craft breweries
• alcohol regulation
• beer sales law
• small business
• charitable donations