TALLAHASSEE, FL – Two Florida lawmakers have filed bills to legalize 64-ounce growlers, currently banned under state law, the Associated Press reports. Beer distributors oppose both measures and their efforts have appeared to stall both bills.

"It's really silly. I have in my office a 32-ounce, a gallon and a 64 to show people. And I ask them, 'Which one do you think is currently illegal?'" said Rep. Katie Edwards. "They all think the gallon is illegal. They say, 'Oh, you're trying to legalize the big one!' and I say, 'No, it's the one in the middle,' and it's like, 'Why is it not legal?' They don't get it."

Edwards said her motive in sponsoring the bill is to stimulate economic development. The half-gallon size is an industry standard and is sold at breweries around the country.

The Florida Beer Wholesalers Association, which represents the state's Anheuser-Busch distributors, opposes the bill, and its lobbyist, Mitch Rubin, was able to persuade Rep. Debbie Mayfield not to give it a hearing at the House Business and Professional Regulation Subcommittee that she chairs. 

Rubin said he is fighting to preserve the three-tier system of alcohol distribution that was established after Prohibition. While state law allows take-home sales at breweries, Rubin said that language was meant only to allow sales at Busch Gardens in Tampa when Anheuser-Busch brewed beer there. He said it was never intended to allow breweries to sell product direct to consumers.

"It's definitely operating in the gray," said Rubin, who said he is not fighting the bill to boost distributers' profits. "There's a little to that, but the larger point is about the three-tier system, and that is our larger concern."

Rubin also persuaded Sen. Maria Sachs to add an amendment to a bill offered by Sen. Jack Latvala that would have allowed 64-ounce growlers to be sold, but only from the smallest breweries. The Associated Press said that bill is likely halted, too.

The Beer Industry of Florida (BIF), whose membership includes MillerCoors distributors, supports allowing the 64-ounce growlers because the group doesn't see the jugs as a threat to the three-tier system, said BIF president Eric Criss.