ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Thomas Monti owns Schoolhouse Brewing in Marietta Georgia. Monti said when he retired from teaching, he opened to create a special place for the community.

“We like to call it the third spot. Everybody has one. You know, you got work, and you’ve got home and then there’s always that third place that is just special to you,” said Monti.

The Georgia Craft Brewers Association reports that 15 breweries closed in 2024. Monti says he knows of three more that closed so far this year.

“We’ve put everything that we had, me and my partner, we have put all of our savings, all of our income into making this successful,” Monti said.

Monti said they’ve had ups and downs with inflation and COVID. Now he worries tariffs could cause input costs to rise. He said now more than ever- he is hoping lawmakers will consider a bill to change how breweries can distribute beer.

Some of the rules governing beer distribution in Georgia are nearly 100 years old, created after prohibition. Georgia breweries can’t sell directly to restaurants, liquor stores and other shops- even if that shop is around the corner.

Monti says their distributor is roughly an hour away.

For their beer to get to a store it has to be picked up, stored and sent to its destination. He says all the money to handle the load is unnecessary.

“Being able to increase our margins just by 5 and 6%, that is the difference between keeping the lights on, making sure your employees are paid and closing our doors,” Monti said.

For years, the beer lobby has tried to change Georgia’s beer distribution laws. Sen. John Albers is carrying a bipartisan bill that would allow craft brewers to self-distribute up to 3,000 barrels of beer to avoid costs from wholesalers, allow breweries to donate to charities, and eliminate a cap on to-go sales.

Wholesalers say the system protects consumers and the industry.

Delivering For Georgia- a wholesalers lobbying group- released a statement against the legislation:

“Georgia did not become a top state for brewers by accident. Our state’s brewing success is the result of more than nine years of careful, incremental changes to Georgia’s laws. These changes were designed to support the state’s craft beer industry while thoughtfully engaging all stakeholders to benefit Georgia consumers and ensure a safe, fair playing field. A bill like SB 122 would undermine carefully crafted laws and lead to unintended consequences that would negatively impact other businesses and the industry – consequences that small craft brewery advocates aren’t seeing. The reality is that craft brewing is now a mature industry. As in all mature business environments, some businesses will fail. In 2024, more craft breweries closed than opened in the US for the first time in almost 20 years. We are sympathetic to craft brewers, but we cannot pass new legislation each time a brewery closes."

Joseph Cortes, director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Association, calls the statement tone-deaf.

“40 states including the District of Columbia, for example, have allowed for self-distribution. Distributors are doing just fine in those states. regulation is still strong. A 100-year-old system that has had very few updates is not the answer for our 21st-century businesses,” Cortes said.

The bill awaits a hearing in the Senate’s regulated industries and oversight committee

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