According to their website:
Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws was formed in 2005 to advocate for beer and wine laws that: 1) benefit consumers; 2) promote competition; 3) protect the environment; and 4) support Maryland’s brewers and wineries.
MBBWL represents all Marylanders — consumers, retailers, producers, distributors, and just regular folks — who share our values.
Specific reforms that we support include allowing consumers to order wine through online retailers like wine.com, and buy beer and wine at grocery stores.
They’ve got my support, that’s for sure. I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, the only place in America to have a county controlled beer and wine distribution system. This “byzantine system,” as the Washington City Paper called it in a recent article, raises prices, reduces availability, makes it difficult for retail outlets like bars and restaurants to access good beer, and has a negative effect on product freshness and therefore quality.
County controlled distribution serves no interests of Montgomery County residents, it just funnels profits to the County that would otherwise go to family-owned distributorships like the ones that distribute all the rest of the beer in this country. Why does the County assume the right to distribute beer and not hot dogs and carpets?
I’m a new Maryland resident myself. Things here don’t seem too terribly different from New Jersey, where I’m originally from. Thanks for posting about this, though. I’ve added them to my regular reading.
Sure thing, thanks for stopping by “Wrathchild”. Cheers!
[...] (via Chris O’Brien) [...]
[...] justice or environmental sustainability – the kind of beer activism I advocate. Though I fully support legal efforts that help small, independent brewers [...]