Tennessee Republicans look to ban sale of cold beer at retail outlets

A bill in the Tennessee legislature could see a ban on cold beer being sold in stores statewide in an effort to prevent drunk driving accidents.

State Senator Paul Rose and Rep. Ron Gant, both Republicans, have advanced SB 2636, which "prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer."

The bill has passed two votes in the state Senate and was referred to a committee at the time of this writing.

Rep. Gant said that the new law would serve as a deterrent to those who want to drink while behind the wheel.

"We see the evidence in many accidents where alcohol is found in the car, beer cans and beer bottles. And we see it on the side of the road in many of our roads; across the state and every county, you see the many beer bottles, beer cans that litter our highways," Gant said, according to WREG Memphis.

As OutKick reported, the Tennessee Department of Transportation has revealed that one in three fatal crashes in the state stemmed from a DUI. Additionally, one in every seven crashes that resulted in serious injury involved a DUI, with half of DUI-related car crashes causing death.

The accidents predominantly affected those ages 20-34, and 74% of those involved in DUI-related crashes were men.

However, with businesses such as grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores the most likely to be affected, operators have raised concerns with the possible legislation.

The bill "would be very detrimental to our brewery and the beer business in general," said Andy Ashby, co-owner of Memphis Made Brewing.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the temperature of beer in convenience and grocery stores greatly affects sales.

"There’s a saying in beer sales: Cold is gold," Ashby added.

Another beer retailer said that cold beer makes up 90% of sales.

"There’s only a handful of accounts that put our beer on a warm shelf," according to Drew Barton, head brewer at Memphis Made. "It would have a huge impact, huge. Package sales are somewhere around 40%-% of our sales, and 90% of that is cold."

The brewer said that he planned to collaborate with the Tennessee Brewers Guild to form an action plan. While the retailers said that they do not condone drunk driving, they would still like to find a way to legally operate around any new proposed laws that could have such a significant impact on their sales.

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