The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa, is meant to help grow the craft beer industry in Florida, but practically, few craft breweries would benefit from the legislation.

It’s meant to aid small breweries, so it only applies to those that brew 7,000 kegs or less of beer each year. There are at least 30 craft breweries in South Florida according to the Florida Brewers Guild, from Tequesta Brewing Co. in the north to Bone Island Brewing and The Waterfront Brewery in Key West. Almost all of them brew less than 7,000 kegs a year.

The limit rules out big craft breweries such as Oakland Park’s Funky Buddha, which is on track to brew 30,000 kegs this year, according to Funky Buddha owner/operator Ryan Sentz.

Brewers, no matter how small, who have a distribution agreement wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the law that cleared its final Senate committee this week.

“It would take an act of god to get out of the contract with a distributor,” said Fran Andrewlevich of Tequesta Brewing Co. and Palm Beach Gardens’ Twisted Trunk Brewing.

Since the end of Prohibition, Florida has operated on a three-tier system, meaning that brewers, distributors and retailers must all be separate entities.

Yonathan Ghersi of 26 Degree Brewing Company in Pompano Beach called the bill “an incremental win.”

Ghersi’s brewery makes the in-house beer for Flanigan’s restaurant chain and signed a distribution agreement in 2015. He said “we’re very happy with our distributor” but is rooting for the bill to pass so that it could help small craft breweries starting up now and in the future.

Read more at Source: Sun-Sentinel