make South Carolina more attractive for a West Coast brewery's $31 million eastward expansion has been introduced in the state House of Representatives.The so-called "Stone Bill" — named so because Stone Brewing Co., with $135 million in revenue reported last year, is considering South Carolina as a possible location for a new production facility — would pave the way for brewers already in the state to have more freedom in how they make and sell their beer.
The legislation — introduced by three House representatives from the Upstate, Lowcountry and Grand Strand — is a companion to a bill put before the state Senate.
If passed, the legislation would allow brewpubs to sell exponentially more beer to distributors while at the same time having the ability to operate a restaurant in the same location.
The provisions are important, advocates say, because Stone Brewing — the 10th largest brewery in the country — wants to mirror the combination brewery and restaurant in the San Diego area that has become a major tourist attraction.
The state for long has been overlooked by breweries making multimillion-dollar eastward expansions, such as Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues and New Belgium, who have each chosen the Asheville area in recent years.
State Rep. Derham Cole of Spartanburg, the primary sponsor of the bill, said the change in law would take advantage of a suddenly booming industry in the state stifled since the end of Prohibition with rules originally designed to control alcohol abuse.
Cole said the state might run out of time to pass a new law before Stone makes it decision by the end of the year but that changes would set the stage for future expansion plans for breweries both outside and inside the state.
The new bill calls for a change in how brewpubs are defined, allowing them to produce more beer and sell the product to distributors.
Currently, state law allows beer to be produced under two legal constructs — as a brewpub or a brewery, said Greenville lawyer Brook Bristow, who represents the South Carolina Brewers Association and helps new breweries negotiate the legal process.
Brewpubs are allowed to sell unlimited quantities of beer for on-site consumption, but they can't distribute their products to the market.
Breweries can have their beers distributed but are only allowed to offer the equivalent of three pints of beer to be consumed on the premises per person per day.
The change in law would allow Stone to operate under the new definition of a brewpub, upping brewpub production limits from 2,000 barrels per year to 500,000.
Several communities in South Carolina, including Greenville and Lexington, submitted responses to Stone's 36-page request for proposals issued this spring.
The company plans to identify a location this year for an initial $20 million investment to produce 120,000 barrels of beer initially with plans to expand to 500,000 per year, according to the RFP.
The company projects revenues to exceed $100 million by the end of year four, according to the RFP.
