On Saturday, Aug. 13 Governor Mike Easley signed into law a bill allowing for the sale of beers and malt beverages with up to 15 percent alcohol-by-volume in North Carolina, by a vote of 27-21. Many feared that the bill, which cleared the N.C. House of Representatives in May, would not make it through the Senate.

A grassroots organization known as “Pop the Cap” was instrumental in getting the bill to pass. “We won’t rest until this is signed into law,” Pop the Cap member Julie Bradford said on the organization’s Web site prior to Gov. Mike Easley signing the bill.

North Carolina was one of only six states that continued to limit the percentage of alcohol to 6 percent, a law dating back to the repeal of prohibition in the 1930s.

The law will allow microbreweries in North Carolina to increase the variety of beer that they make, as well as increase the numbers of import beers that North Carolina’s approximately 17,500 licensed retail businesses can sell.

“I think that the new law is good because it will allow people a greater variety of choices in beer when they go out,” student Angela Taylor said.

In addition to providing consumers with a greater number of choices, many hope that the new law will create jobs for North Carolinians. This was the case in Georgia, which lifted the 6 percent limitation last year and has seen a rapid growth in the specialty beer industry since then.

Opponents of the new law, which includes groups such as the Christian right, argue that the bill will increase problems for North Carolina’s Alcoholic Beverage Control and law enforcement, particularly in the areas of underage drinking and drunk driving. According to Rev. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League this is because beer and malt beverages are products typically targeted at younger audiences.

According to the NC Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, in 2001 approximately 10 percent of all fatal crashes caused by alcohol involved an underage driver.

However, Bradford and many other proponents of the law feel that this will not be the case as the new beers will be more expensive and typically appeal to more mature audiences. Additionally they feel that opponents are overestimating the potential effects of the law, as many restaurants will remain unaffected.

“I’m not sure that there is a place for high alcohol content beer in more upscale restaurants. Maybe in a bar if there is something unique about the flavor profile or the beer itself, but it seems those beers will appeal more to people looking for a quick buzz and not a dining experience,” manager of Caffé Phoenix Dean Bulluck said.