Comments on: Will California Outlaw Coffee Stout with Bill AB 1598?

By: I pretend to love coffee beer | The Blog o' Beer: Archive

I pretend to love coffee beer | The Blog o' Beer: Archive — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:43:37 +0000

[...] other day I stumbled across this at Beer47. A few days ago I posted an article about California Assembly Bill 1598, which is currently in committee and will, as currently written, potentially outlaw any malt [...]

By: No More Caffeinated Beer in California Law | Come-F#$king-On!!

No More Caffeinated Beer in California Law | Come-F#$king-On!! — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:14:24 +0000

[...] photo: beer47.com [...]

By: Hoperatives - Short Hops: March 13, 2010

Hoperatives - Short Hops: March 13, 2010 — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:02:11 +0000

[...] ● Will California Outlaw Coffee Stout with Bill AB 1598? [...]

By: Protest the California Bill to Outlaw Coffee Stout, AB 1598 | Beer 47

Protest the California Bill to Outlaw Coffee Stout, AB 1598 | Beer 47 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:51:14 +0000

[...] few days ago I posted an article about California Assembly Bill 1598, which is currently in committee and will potentially outlaw any malt beverage that contains [...]

By: Mario (Brewed For Thought)

Mario (Brewed For Thought) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:08:21 +0000

A law to outlaw pre-packaged beverages containing stimulants and alcohol would be pointless.

Stimulant use (caffeine, guarana, taurine, ginseng, etc) paired with alcohol is incredibly common. These readily available malt beverages may be easy to point to, but the fact is that anyone can mix Red Bull and vodka. Drinking coffee before/while/after drinking alcohol would have the same effect.

So the law wants to ban purple paint but continue to sell red and blue. It’s just stupid.

By: Will

Will — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:14:28 +0000

It is absurd that adding coffee to a beer. Could be considered the same as all the chemical ingredients that were capable of eating thru aluminum cans in sparks(yes, when first released it happened! Entire shipments recalled)!

Please do not be passive on this issue! Just because it is not all over the news is not a fair reason to believe this issue won’t pass! Do what you can to make this appear in every media possible. Every vote on this counts!

By: Benia

Benia — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:05:30 +0000

The government needs to stop making every last thing illegal. Sure, poison is not cool to serve, but with caffeine and alcohol, let the consumers regulate themselves.

I love my coffee stouts!

Benia

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:05:25 +0000

I reached out to Frances Grammer for clarification. Here’s what I got back, FWIW:

—-

Sean,

I believe I misspoke; the need for the legislation was presented after an agreement was made with attorneys general from 25 states including California. Miller-Coors agreed to remove stimulants from their energy drink Sparks and Anheuser-Busch Cos. agreed to do the same with its Tilt and Bud Extra brews.

Unfortunately, two beverages made by a Chicago company, Four Loko and Four Maxed, and a Los Angeles company’s drink, Joose, have become the two top brands in the caffeinated alcohol category since Sparks was reformulated.

Sincerely,

FRANCES GRAMMER

—

By: @brewhiker

@brewhiker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:07:50 +0000

Got an email response to Jim Beall asking for clarification on this bill and its impact on beer:

Mr. Brewhiker,

The Assemblymember is working with the craftsbrewer association to attempt to clarify the legislation. The intent of AB 1598 is to enforce federal legislation that prohibits alcoholic beverages that are spiked with stimulants.

Sincerely,

Frances Grammer

Senior Field Representative

By: @stelis

@stelis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:12:41 +0000

I’m pretty optimistic this bill is going nowhere.

Like all laws, they have to be enforced to have teeth. To enforce, the Governor through his cabinet, must adopt regulation. It’s the regulation that will define what drinks are covered/not covered under this law.

The legislature and the governor is not going to let California’s craft brewing industry go out the window, along with its jobs and tourism.

And if this bill is like the 90% of other bills that get introduced into the legislature, it’s going to die in committee. If you look at the history of this bill, it’s been in committee since Jan 14.

This bill was brought up by The Marin Institute, an anti-alcohol group. Nobody takes them seriously. Groups like these do this sort of thing for publicity, never expecting it get anywhere. The publicity is what causes people to donate money to them. Most likely Marin donated some money to Beall’s campaign, and Beall followed through with this request.

If this was going anywhere, it’d be all over the news.