March 08, 2016 04:23 PM UTC

Bipartisan Agreement on Your Choice Colorado from Former D & R Legislators

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• by: YourChoiceColorado

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Over the past couple of weeks, two former Colorado legislators, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, have publicly come out in favor of lifting the ban on full-strength beer and wine in grocery stores. Giving Colorado consumers more and better choices is a bipartisan issue that brings people together.

As former Republican State Senator Tom Blickensderfer put it in his OpEd “State Residents Deserve Your Choice Colorado” in the Colorado Statesman:

“Allowing only 3.2 percent alcohol beer in grocery stores is not only impractical, it unnecessarily hurts our growing craft brew industry by denying them new shelf space to reach new customers. It limits customers’ choice of where and how they wish to buy their beer and wine.

The sale of full strength beer and wine in grocery stores would benefit all Coloradans. Just like other Colorado brands that have found new customers through their exposure on grocery store shelves, more shelf space equals more sales for local craft brewers and winemakers. An economist at the University of Denver predicts that a change in the law would lead to $125 million in more sales for the craft beer industry, which also means more local jobs.”

And former Democratic Representative Joe Miklosi said in the Vail Daily,

“Forty-two states proudly sell Colorado beer and wine in grocery stores, but in Colorado, local grocery stores are forbidden from selling Colorado craft beer — the best craft beer in the world. Every Vail Valley resident has a story about an out-of-state visitor who purchased beer at a local grocery store and didn’t know they were buying watered-down or 3.2 percent beer instead of a quality Colorado craft beer. It just makes no sense.

…Grocery stores and liquor stores already co-exist in the Colorado locations where each grocery chain is allowed to sell real beer and wine in a single store. In Glendale, for example, there are dozens of thriving liquor stores within a two-mile radius of two of those stores.

The bottom line is that the current system is broken and stacking the deck against local brewers. Having full-strength beer and wine available in grocery stores is good for the craft brew industry, good for Coloradans and visitors alike, and good for the economy. Let’s support our local brewers and update Colorado’s antiquated and Prohibition-era laws.”

For more information on how lifting the ban on full strength beer and wine in grocery stores benefit Colorado consumers, brewers and the economy, please go to Your Choice Colorado.