UPDATE: FTH has posted the list of beers affected by the distributor boycott on their website.
Leaders for Free The Hops | Alabamians For Specialty Beer (FTH) announced their to call for a consumer boycott of Anheuser-Busch products and their distributors statewide this morning. This is first time that they’ve made such a request since January 2008 when they called specifically called for a boycott of products distributed by Birmingham Budweiser.
According to a post on the non-profit organization’s website, the vote by the board was unanimous, with one member choosing to recuse themselves due to a conflict of interest.
While the Free the Hops Bill (HB 373) passed in May 2009 (raising the level of alcohol allowed by volume in beer available statewide), there are two bills currently attempting to make their way through the state legislature – the Brewery Modernization Act and the Gourmet Bottle Bill; both measures were recently held over in Montgomery.
FTH’s official press release contends that Anheuser-Busch has been working against legislation currently under consideration in the State legislature. We have sent an email to Birmingham Budweiser requesting comment and will share that statement as soon as possible.
FTH also they would take the initial step of banning all beers distributed by Anheuser Busch distributors in Alabama from not only this year’s Rocket City Brewfest in May but Birmingham’s Magic City Brewfest in early June.
Three years ago, then FTH president Stuart Carter shared this piece with us about why bills then before the State legislature needed to pass.
James Lewis of 
Trader Joe’s? It’s going to be a while
UPDATE: 9/17/2014 – Patience has paid off as an announcement was made this morning | Trader Joe’s arrives in Birmingham in late 2015
The interviewer asked about the online battle taking place here in Alabama about where to put a Trader Joe’s. The response has sparked some debate:
Another interesting point brought up by Coulombe was how the salaries were determined for the original stores; it was based off of the median family income – a practice that is still followed by the company (which is now owned by a trust created by the owners of the Aldi grocery store chain).
If Trader Joe’s were to put a location in the state of Alabama and they followed the median family income policy, based on 2009 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average employee for the chain could potentially make $39,980/year, plus benefits.
This would all be great – if Trader Joe’s had plans to move into metro Birmingham in the near future. According to a Birmingham News article written last month, it’s not in the cards (at least not for the next couple of years). That’s even with three different efforts taking place on Facebook trying to get them to consider a location in Birmingham or Hoover. Then there’s the one we wrote about back in March 2009 – they’ve now got close to 1,500 members.
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Tagged battle, Birmingham, comments, food, grocery, Hoover, Joe Coulombe, LA Times, location, Trader Joe's