A fight is brewing.

• Position: Triad

Bill Sherrill doesn't begrudge the General Assembly for approving grants to lure two of the nation's largest craft brewers to the state or changing laws to allow them to sell beer at their proposed breweries. But the CEO of Whitsett-based Red Oak Brewery LLC would like lawmakers to show his company, the second-oldest craft brewer in North Carolina, the same consideration it gave Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium Brewing Co, and Chico, Calif.-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Sherrill says a state law requiring beer makers to turn all of their distribution over to wholesalers if they produce more than 25,000 31-gallon barrels in a year has stymied his expansion plans.

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After Prohibition, state and federal lawmakers created a three-tier system--brewers, wholesalers and retailers--to better collect taxes and regulate sales. Today, states set distribution thresholds. In the 1980s, brewers in North Carolina were limited to making 2,000 barrels a year without going through a wholesaler. That was raised to 10,000 in the 1990s, and Sherrill pushed to get that increased to 25,000 about five years ago. He and a few legislators tried to pass further raises--one to 60,000, another to 100,000--to no avail. Red Oak makes about 12,500 but wants to more than double that.

Most craft brewers in the state use wholesalers or don't produce enough to need them, so Red Oak doesn't have a lot of allies. But Sherrill says the company--whose roots extend to 1991 when he opened Red Oak Brew Pub in Greensboro--needs to deliver its own because of its unique nature. The unfiltered, unpasteurized lagers have no preservatives or additives and have to stay properly refrigerated. Red Oak has 15 refrigerated trucks that make deliveries to nearly 700 bars and restaurants and about 100 grocery stores in the state.

The North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers...