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Beer Compromise Reached

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With one day to go in this year’s legislative session, Utah lawmakers reached a compromise deal to increase the amount of alcohol available in beer in grocery and convenience stores. 

Republican Sen. Jerry Stevenson said Wednesday the agreement would raise alcohol limits to 4 percent, as opposed to the 4.8% he originally proposed. Stevenson says that would allow for most production-line beers to be sold without making a trip to a state-run liquor store. As part of the compromise, the bill also creates a “beer availability work group” that would be run by the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The work group would study the effects of raising the alcohol content of beer on retail practices. The bill must still be approved by the state Legislature by the end of the session, which wraps up Thursday at midnight.

Utah is one of two states that limits beer to 3.2 percent alcohol outside of state-owned liquor stores, but large breweries have been discontinuing weak-beer products as other states abandon those limits.