WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – If you love craft beers, you could find a lot more variety at local pubs and festivals starting this summer. It depends on lawmakers.

“It seems like a no-brainer,” said Sean Wilcott, with Wilcott Brewing Company in Holton. “It’s pro-small business.”

Wilcott has been moving the needle with lawmakers for some time with different projects.

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Now, with Senate Bill 511 being introduced, beer makers in Kansas could start selling their own beer instead of being mandated to use a distributor. It could mean more profit for smaller mom-and-pop beer makers.

As Wilcott expands his business North of Topeka, he is not alone in lobbying lawmakers for changes in laws that have some roots that go back to prohibition.

“We’re all in a business that we have a lot of passion in and a lot of passion for growing our city,” said Dan Norton in Wichita with Nortons Brewing Company. “And so, we are doing all we can. We would just like to have the same rights as other, similar businesses.”

Norton has been selling his craft beers in Wichita for years with a variety from lager on tap to fruit sours to dark beers.

Right now, Norton and others who brew beer have to use a distributor in Kansas. If they want to sell to a restaurant across the street, they have to buy their beer back, and then they can sell it to a restaurant unless that restaurant is physically attached to the brewery.

“Look, we all love distributors,” said Norton. “They do things a lot of us smaller brewers do not do, like hire delivery drivers and do separate billing.”

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“Distributors, we’re not trying to get rid of them. They are helpful in a lot of ways. We want to be able to strike deals out on our own. I want to be able to go down to the local bar and go, do you want to carry our beer?”

Senate and House both have been looking into distribution changes in committees in various forms. The House is getting a different bill. The Senate already has SB 511.

No word on when lawmakers could get a bill or bills up for a vote.

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