Sunday marks first day Texans can get beer to go from local breweries

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - Starting this Sunday, Texans will be able to pick up beers to go from their favorite craft breweries.

There's nothing like an ice-cold brew during a hot summer day, and some may argue it's even better if it comes from a craft brewery.

“We do European styled beer,” Chip McElroy said. “They've been taste tested over hundreds of years.” 

McElroy has been the president of Live Oak Brewing Company in Del Valle for 24 years.

“Craft beer is just beer made the old-fashioned way with more flavor than some of the mass-produced big breweries,” McElroy said.

He says in a few days this place will be packed out and filled with excited faces. That's because Sunday, September 1 is "beer to go day".

“The best thing about it is we can quit telling people no when they ask can we have some beer to go,” McElroy said.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on June 15 he signed House Bill 1545.

Texas Craft Brewers Guild executive director Charles Vallhonrat says this is a right that Texas brewers have been fighting to attain for over a decade and is finally achieved.

“I think it will be a big boom to our business,” McElroy said. “We had to buy refrigerators to hold beer so people can shop for what they want.”

There are ground rules however. McElroy says each person can have one case of 24  twelve-ounce cans, equaling 288 ounces per day. To make sure no one abuses those rules, McElroy says they already have some of their own in place.

“Locals are going to continue to buy beer at the retailer near them however if they want to get something on the tap wall that you can't find readily those will be canned up as well,” McElroy said. “Biggest thing is record keeping we need to make sure people aren't buying more than what they need to by law.”

McElroy says Live Oak has an ID scanner to keep track of names that tied to a person, not a credit card.

“We have now aligned ourselves with the other 49 states in the union and people all the time come into our brewery from the airport, which is across the highway, and they always want to take beer with them,” McElroy said.

There are a number of breweries participating in #BeerToGo day, including Live Oak. 

This isn’t to be confused with Senate Bill 1232, which allows restaurants, bars and businesses with a mixed beverage permit to deliver alcohol with food to homes and other locations. This law also goes into effect Sunday, September 1.