This year’s Colorado beer debate up at Capitol

By The AP
Thursday, March 24, 2011

DENVER — A long fight over where full-strength beer can be sold in Colorado is back at the state Capitol.

A House committee planned to start work today on a bill changing the Colorado Beer Code. It would allow convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations to sell beer and malt beverages of more than 3.2 percent alcohol, called full-strength beer.

Currently, full-strength beer can be sold in liquor stores, restaurants and bars but not in gas stations and supermarkets. The bill has been debated for years in Colorado, and its prospects are unclear this year. Liquor stores say they’d be driven out of business if full-strength suds can be sold elsewhere.

The House Economic & Business Development Committee takes up the question this afternoon.

Online:
House Bill 1284: http://goo.gl/iXx1l