Alex Ebert, an analyst with Dahman Law and recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School provided testimony for Ohio’s House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee, Tuesday, June 23. The committee was considering a bill to raise Ohio’s cap on alcohol-by-volume (ABV) in beer from 12 percent ABV to 21 percent, a move that local craft brewers say would help them compete with the more than 40 other states where high-ABV beers can be legally brewed and purchased.
While attending The Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law, Ebert researched a law review article exploring how state regulations affect craft brewery entrepreneurship. Dan Ramos, sponsor of House Bill 68, asked Ebert to share his research insights with the committee, including the historical context of the law and considerations regarding public safety.
“As a man born and raised in Wisconsin on cheese, beer and bratwurst, the 12 percent cap on ABV for beer in Ohio struck me as peculiar when I moved here to finish law school last summer. So peculiar that I wrote a law review article on this topic.” Ebert said. “As a former newspaper journalist and present masochist I decided to spend an entire day searching through 2001 and 2002 documents on library microfiche digging for any mention of why the cap was imposed, removed, and then re-imposed.”
Ebert was quoted in Columbus Business First, and in the Akron Beacon Journal.