The fight between craft brewers and the distributors of Budweiser over the legalization of half-gallon beer containers has gotten so bitter that it is even being likened to extortion.
The issue seems simple enough: Florida allows breweries to fill quart and gallon containers—called growlers—at their tap rooms, but the half-gallon size that’s the industry standard in 47 other states remains illegal. Brewers, their customers and some lawmakers think the state should just get rid of the restriction that many call silly. But the politically powerful Anheuser-Busch InBev distributors have a powerful ally in Senate President Don Gaetz as they try to force craft breweries to give up some of their profit.
