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.
FTH has asked its members and supporters to join a formal boycott of Birmingham Budweiser products. In an e-mail sent late Tuesday night, new FTH president Stuart Carter says the leadership at the local beer distributor is “still working against the interests of both Anheuser Busch (who, in addition to Bud, brews dozens of beers that are currently illegal under Alabama law) and Alabama consumers. They have indicated that they will again work to prevent our bill, freeing the hops, from passing in the Alabama state legislature.”
