Over time, the bill could get rid of 3.2 percent beer entirely. The existing mandate that non-liquor stores sell only up to 3.2 percent
beer—about half the alcohol content of many of Colorado's craft beers—should be gone by 2019, the Colorado Department of Revenue
says. Grocers with current 3.2 percent beer licenses would eventually be able to sell full strength beer, but no wine or liquor.
The Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, a board
on which Hazel's Beverage World sits—will have a seat at
the table once that discussion begins in earnest. "For the
guy who buys Bud or Coors Light, it's convenient," says
Hazel's co-owner Jimmy Dean. "I know lots of people who
don't drink, but I don't know anyone who doesn't eat. If
you're in the store and you have two screaming kids and
you want to get home, you just buy the Bud Light; you
don't make a second stop for Crooked Stave. I sell Bud
to pay the heat and lights. If someone goes to the grocery
store and then has the intent of coming here but then they
don't, that impacts me."
The thing people need to remember about the bill, Dean
says, is that the only people asked to give up part of their
livelihood are retail liquor stores. "What does Wal-Mart give
up? King Soopers? The distributors? Nothing," Dean says. "We
Jim Dean, co-owner of Hazel's Beverage World in Boulder.
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July/August 2017 • Beverage Dynamics 21