AUSTIN, Texas — In late June, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order stating that all bars in Texas must close. The order defined a bar as any establishment that makes more than 50% of its income from alcohol sales.
That definition is something brewery owners are hoping to change. Breweries across Central Texas have called on Abbott and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) to make a distinction between bars and breweries.
Now Infamous Brewing Company in Austin is asking its customers to help by sending handwritten postcards to the governor's office. Both the owner and bar manager want to see breweries reopen during the pandemic and believe the next step is for leaders to hear from patrons.
"They've heard from brewery owners, they've heard from lawyers, they've heard from politicians," Joshua Horowitz, the owner, said. "Now it's time for them to hear from the people."
"Most of our seating is outdoor. All of our seating during the pandemic has been outdoor. Everything is six feet apart, everyone has been great – 99.9% of our customers have followed the guidelines that we've got on all the tables," said CeCe Rodgers, Infamous Brewing's bar manager.
Horowitz said he wants the distinction to extend to wineries and distilleries too. On Monday, he sent out about 50 written letters from customers to the Office of the Governor.
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The brewery is providing the postcards to customers and will mail them a few times a week at no cost to the customer. Horowitz currently has about 1,000 postcards. About 950 of them are empty, waiting for patrons to write a letter.
"There's just something different about a pile of letters sitting on a desk," Horowitz said. "The message gets lost in emails. This gets their attention."
Horowitz hopes other breweries join his letter-writing campaign. He said he plans to continue sending letters until changes are made to licenses to differentiate breweries, wineries and distilleries from bars.
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