Kentucky would like to discuss what it means to be a growler.

The Great Kentucky Growler Conspiracy came bubbling to the surface late last week, and understandably so, given the tendency of social media to function not unlike Plato's Allegory of the Cave, spitting out shadows vaguely representing substance without really getting at the universals (if any) behind the curtain.

Here's the tip: Kentucky officials threaten growler sales by sanitation.

804 KAR 11:040. Growlers.
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 241.060 authorizes the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages. This administrative regulation allows a licensee that holds a retail malt beverage license to sell growlers.
LRC.KY.GOV

I elected to wait a couple of days to comment, in the assumption that someone with more time and patience would parse the legalese -- and the Hoperatives duly stepped forward.

Because this became a story for us relatively late on a Friday afternoon, we did not reach out to Trey Hieneman at the KY ABC. We’ll raise some of the issues we brought up here with him next week and see what he says. We’ll definitely report on that. This could be something that winds up being a disincentive for retailers to keep and maintain growler systems,. That would be a real hit to the growing craft beer movement in Kentucky. On the other hand, this proposal could just as easily be rules that legitimately protect public health and helps brewers by making sure their product is being poured in a sanitary fashion. The story here doesn’t appear to be that these rules are good or bad. It seems to be that this is unclear. The good news is, there’s time to work that out.

In this instance, as in like occurrences (health departments everywhere smelling the do-re-mi and eagerly seeking regulatory territory to demarcate), it is worth considering the point when administrative shortcuts conflict with statute. At any rate, thanks to Carla and Tom for their balanced view; I look forward to the follow-up.