Pop The Cap: A brief history
Posted by Pop The Cap on June 25th, 2006North Carolina’s beer cap is now 15 percent alcohol by volume. Below is a quick history on how Pop The Cap, an all-volunteer grassroots group, lobbied for three years to help raise the limit from 6 to 15 percent.
To learn more about why North Carolina still imposes an artificial cap on beer, please read the “What’s with the 15 percent cap?” page.
Pop The Cap is no longer a going concern. The information on this web site is archived for history’s sake (and nostalgia).
***
We called. We wrote. We conquered.
In February 2003, a motley group of thirty-five beer lovers gathered at the All About Beer office to discuss one issue: how to lift North Carolina’s 6% alcohol by volume cap on beer. For seventy years, North Carolina had imposed a 6% ABV restriction on beer sold and brewed within the state. At the time, the Old North State was one of five states with a severe limitation.
The thirty-five of us were fed up. This relic of Prohibition made it illegal to brew or sell one-third of the world’s beer styles, including gourmet Belgian ales, hoppy IPAs, and intensely malty dopplebocks. Beers meant for sipping and savoring…nothing like the American light lagers that dominate North Carolina’s storeshelves.
For two-and-a-half years, this group of thirty-five no-nothings (yes, yours truly included!) grew into a grassroots movement of thousands of North Carolinians. We hired a lobbyist, the amazing Theresa Kostrzewa. In our first legislative push, the Pop The Cap bill passed two House committees, two Senate committees, the House floor, and the Senate floor.
Such progress is almost unheard of, especially with such a potentially volatile issue as raising an alcohol cap. We overcame intense resistance from old-line distributors and neo-Prohibitionist interest groups. We battled Senator John “Drinking straight vodka” Kerr and Senator “this law will lead to more unwanted pregnancies and academic suicides” Jacumin.
On August 13, 2005, Governor Mike Easley signed House Bill 392 into law, lifting the 6% ABV cap to a more-reasonable 15%. We called, we wrote, we conquered. We popped the cap.
UPDATE: Four years later, and the ABV laws in South are falling like a deck of cards. Only ONE state has a severe ABV restriction:
Let’s support Mississippi’s Raise Your Pints and RID OUR NATION of these restrictive caps!
Lastly, are you angry that we still have a cap, even if it’s 15%? Do you feel slighted that you still can’t get ten or so beers here in North Carolina? Relax, have a beer, and learn more here.
To learn more about how to be a beer activist — or to keep up with some of the hot issues around the nation — please visit SupportYourLocalBrewery.org.
It was an honor to serve you.
Cheers,
Sean Lilly Wilson
Past President, Pop The Cap
