Beer industry fighting keg ID plan in Colorado

Modern Brewery Age,  March 21, 2005  

Tags: alcohol, Colorado, Ford Motor Co., industry, MARKETING

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AP--Liquor stores and the beer industry are fighting a plan at the state Capitol to put identification tags on beer kegs, one of several measures aimed at cracking down on underage binge drinking. Under the measure, when customers buy a keg of beer, liquor stores would have to write down their names, addresses and dates of birth from their drivers licenses and put an identification tag on the keg.

The idea is that having that information on record would prevent people over 21 from buying kegs for underage drinking parties. And if they do it, law enforcement would be able to track them down if there are any problems using the information collected by the seller.

The measure, which has passed the House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate, is backed by MADD, the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Loveland Police Dept., which has been enforcing a citywide keg ID law for 10 years.

Opponents argue that the proposal is a public relations ploy by law enforcement and lawmakers to respond to a string of high-profile drinking deaths in Colorado and isn't practical.

Even though keg buyers would have to pay a deposit of at least $100, liquor store lobbyist Chuck Ford said that someone throwing a keg party could just add that to their cost of doing business by charging teens more for beer and then just rip off the ID tag or not return the keg.

Since they're spending more money anyway, Ford said people throwing underage parties could just buy cases of beer or hard liquor instead. Steve Findley, president of the Colorado Beer Distributors Association, said it doesn't make sense to target just one part of the alcohol market.

"We're tired of silly, ineffective bills that don't do much to keep alcohol out of the hands of children," Ford said.

He and Findley both back another bill that raises the penalties on adults who supply alcohol to minors. Findley also is reviewing another proposal under which someone caught providing alcohol to a minor could lose his or her driver's license for at least six months.

U.S. Beer Imports
Cumulative bottles, cans and draft
Total Imports, gallons per country, Jan. 2005

COUNTRY                 Jan.2005     Jan.2004
1.MEXICO                19,270,034   17,641,510     +9.2%
2.NETHERLANDS           13,355,778   11,729,681    +13.9%
3.CANADA                 5,590,592    6,797,440    -17.8%
4.IRELAND                2,096,303    1,002,133   +109.2%
5.GERMANY                1,708,142    1,629,642     +4.8%
6.UNITED KINGDOM         1,565,273    2,096,675    -25.3%
7.BELGIUM                  612,537      486,123    +26.0%
8.JAMAICA                  300,134      268,651    +11.7%
9.CZECH REPUBLIC           274,322      280,328     -2.1%
10.DOMINICAN REPUBLIC      233,817      168,593    +38.7%
'''
11.ITALY                   176,612      180,964     -2.4%
12.PRC                     138,374      161,163    -14.1%
13.NEW ZEALAND             125,610      125,155      0.4%
14.THAILAND                 79,877       71,088    +12.4%
15.PHILLIPINES              65,086       46,547     39.8%
16.PORTUGAL                 58,686       33,749     73.9%
17.EL SALVADOR              47,244       59,933    -21.2%
18.INDIA                    33,442       35,835     -6.7%
19.KOREA                    31,240       15,683    +99.2%
20.RUSSIA                   23,142       33,286    -30.5%

Total Gallons           46,069,754   43,121,801     +6.8%
Barrels                  1,486,121    1,391,026

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