SAN ANTONIO – In the tap rooms and growler stations where craft beer is king, there is a beer battle brewing between the state of Texas and small businesses.
The dispute is over tall metal cans called crowlers, which are designed to make it easier and cheaper to take craft beer home from the bar.
It's a new aluminum twist for craft beer to go -- a simple machine that's proving not so simple for the state of Texas or the bars that planned on using it.
"To me, it was a no-brainer. Instead of using a glass bottle, use an aluminum can," said coffee and craft beer shop owner Mike McKim.
Just months after buying one of the machines used to seal the cans, which costs thousands, McKim's Austin coffee and beer shop was raided by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
"(They) took the machine, took the empty cans, took all the labels, just took everything," McKim said.
Bar owners are weighing the differences between the aluminum can crowlers and the glass bottle growlers. They both allow craft beer to be filled at the tap and taken home. But while growlers are considered legal, crowlers have been deemed illegal, as Big Hops owner Rob Martindale found out.
"The TABC agent came in and let us know we needed to remove them from the premises within 30 days," Martindale said.
TABC agents told bar owners that crowlers were manufacturing or repackaging beer, thus illegal, unless you're a brewery. Martindale bought three machines, convinced this was the aluminum wave of the future.
"It's just a better product to carry beer that's typically not available in bottles or cans at your grocery store. You can take this beer off the draft, take it home and enjoy it at your house," Martindale said.
Out the cash, the cans and the crowler machine, McKim has filed a lawsuit against the TABC. Bars like Big Hops, with their rows and rows of growlers, are paying close attention.
"They have cited us with repackaging beer, which is a slippery slope to me. I mean, we're repackaging beer when we put it in a growler, too," McKim said.
He said crowlers are not only better for the environment than their glass counterparts, but also the pocketbook. The glass growlers are $20 plus the cost of beer. Aluminum crowlers are $1 plus the beer.
A TABC spokesman said the agency could not comment on this story because of the pending legal action. A hearing will be held in late May.