Many Oklahomans have become armchair lawyers and lobbyists in the last few months due to the huge amount of attention that the state’s alcohol law reform discussions have been getting. As with any issue this impactful, booze-loving people are quickly choosing sides and taking to the streets (well, mostly the internet streets) to voice their opinions and berate any that differ. Honestly it’s exhausting to keep track of, and it’s getting even more exhausting to talk about. It’s obviously a big deal and I understand all the hubub, but it’s damn near impossible to go to a bar or liquor store and not have it come up. People want so badly to to talk at you about it and make their opinions go all up inside of your heart and other parts of your body.

Sometimes I just want to drink and talk about how awesome Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is…is that too much to ask?

There is one thing, however, in the loud and confusing legal landscape that it seems like everyone agrees on…breweries selling beer….like, REAL beer actually AT the brewery. Amazing, I know.

After multiple attempts by the ABLE Commission to ruin everybody’s fun, this Friday, August 26th, Senate Bill 424 will go into effect allowing Oklahoma breweries to sell their full strength beer on-site both for takeaway and on-premise consumption. This is huge. Let me demonstrate by this incredibly simple (yet currently illegal) series of events:

1. Go to a brewery.
2. Order a beer they make, not worrying about how much alcohol is in it.
3. Drink that beer that you ordered that they make.

Crazy, right?

SB 424 will also allow you to get growler fills of the brewery’s full strength offerings as long as the growler isn’t printed with the logo of another brewery. Yeah, you read that right. Got an Anthem growler? Well good luck getting it filled at Prairie. Great job, ABLE, that would have been chaos.

So let us all rejoice and visit our local brewers this weekend (and every weekend) so we can enjoy the spoils of Oklahoma taking one step in the right direction. See you in the taprooms!