JACKSON – Mississippi’s eight craft breweries are seeking permission to sell their beer at their production facilities, USA Today reports.

Current Mississippi law allows craft brewers only to provide samples of their beer onsite after people take brewery tours. It prohibits them from selling cans or bottles of their beer there, which can only be sold in stores or restaurants.

"Our current structure puts local Mississippi breweries at a competitive disadvantage," said Quinby Chunn, owner of Southern Prohibition brewery in Hattiesburg, to a House Ways and Means subcommittee last week at the state’s Capitol.

Their quest puts them squarely at odds with the state’s large beer distributors, who maintain the current system works fine. Some of the distributors work with craft breweries.

For 80 years, Mississippi has had a "three-tier system" for getting beer from brewers to customers. The first tier is the brewery, the second is the distributor and the third is the store or restaurant that sells the beer.

Brian Drennan of Capital City Beverages said his client list includes four Mississippi breweries along with larger ones from out of state. He said the distributor spends "a disproportionate amount of resources" on the small breweries to distribute their products.

"We want them to be successful and want them to grow," said Drennan, who also advocates keeping the three-tier system.

Rep. Toby Barker, R-Hattiesburg, said craft brewing has helped revitalize downtown Hattiesburg and he supports the craft breweries.

"It represents the best of Mississippi's youth and potential and entrepreneurial spirit," Barker said.