Brew free or die.

• Author: Brown, Elizabeth Nolan
• Position: Booze doesn't lose - Brewery-to-consumer laws - Brief article

Not long ago, big beer brands dominated the U.S. market. But there are now more than 3,000 small breweries in America, the largest number since the 1870s, according to a recent report from the Brewer's Association.

As craft brewers and customers proliferate, more states have been amending laws to allow for direct brewery-to-consumer sales--a practice long barred under the dominant "three tier" alcohol sales model, which has required strict separation of alcohol producers, distributors, and retailers since the repeal of Prohibition. Most beer, wine, and spirit makers must sell to distributors, who then sell to retailers, who then sell to you and me.

Eventually many states began allowing "brewpubs"--microbreweries that also sell food--to sell beer directly to consumers. But it wasn't until recently that states started liberalizing laws to allow for craft brewery taprooms without a...