News-Record.com

Good Tuesday morning. The honorables are all back at work this morning. While they try to sort out the state budget, some other work is getting done as well.

Case in point, the Pop the Cap bill passed out of the Senate Commerce today. (Click here for a prior story on this topic.)

North Carolina's current law now only allows 6 percent alcohol in malt beverages. The bill would raise that cap to 15 percent. It has already passed the House and is now headed to vote on the Senate floor.

The bill is being pushed by craft brewers, who say they want the freedom to brew specialty beers that need more than 6 percent alcohol to turn out right.

Among the Commerce Committee members voting for the bill this morning was Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat.

"I'm not a beer drinker at all," Dorsett said. Dorsett said she only has heard one person opposed to it.

That person is Rev. Mark Creech, the executive director of the Christian Action League.

Creech argues against the bill on several grounds. He says it will undermine the state's ABC system, lead to underage drinking and drunk driving and catch uninformed drinkers unaware. He also said that higher-proof beers might run counter to the wishes of some communities that voted to allow beer sales under the lower proof standards.

One of his more potent arguments, I think, is that it will open the state up to Malt Liquors, which are generally marketed in low income neighborhoods as a quick and cheep way to get drunk. That argument, though, doesn't seem to gaining any traction. The counter to the malt liquor argument, by the way, is that people who would be inclined to drink just to get drunk are already finding ways to do that so this bill has not effect. I'll let you folks sort out which one might be right.

Expect to see this bill on the Senate floor later this week.