AUSTIN, Texas — Two bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature that would allow breweries to deliver directly to the consumer. They are Senate Bill 752 and House Bill 2003, and, if passed, the consumer would still need to show a valid proof of age and sign a receipt.
"You can get almost anything you want delivered to your house – a gallon of milk, wine from your local Texas winery – and so we are just kind of looking to be on the same page with those things and to get reasonable, rational laws passed that allow us to be on the same playing field," said Patrick Clark, co-founder of Zilker Brewing Co.
Clark opened the brewery in 2015.
"It means a lot," he said. "My brother, Forest, and longtime friend, Marco, we started homebrewing out of our garage for a long time, and we ended up coming to East Austin."
They, like the more than 50 other craft breweries in the Austin area, can serve up beer at their location or sell "to-go" beer like cans. But breweries are not allowed to deliver directly to the consumer.
The two bills filed on Feb. 7 would allow breweries like Zilker to deliver straight to customers' homes.
"It would be a great opportunity for us," Clark said. "It is already legal in a lot of other states."
Clark said in 2019, when a law in Texas was passed to sell "to-go" beer at breweries, that really helped his business – especially when the pandemic hit.
"If that wasn’t in place, it would be a hard road for us," he told KVUE.
He hopes the delivery bills will pass and boost business even more.
"We are hoping to see it go through, and we are going to keep supporting the CraftPAC group that supports legislative movements," Clark said.
The bills need to go through seven stages, including passing in the Texas Senate and House, and must signed by the governor before they becomes the law.