POP THE CAP 1: How Fellowship and Food Pave the Way for Statewide Reform.
The Pop the Cap campaign in NC teaches us how legislative reform can lead to better cities and communities.
If someone were to ask you how an idea becomes law, the first thought that comes to mind might be SchoolHouse Rock’s classic I’m Just a Bill. The arduous process of legislation making its way into the books can feel impersonal and distant. But the story of the wistful paper scroll on Capitol Hill is not an all-encompassing one: many of the laws that impact our streets and cities are passed not at the federal level, but by state and local legislators. While local legislation is not free from the ugliness of Washington D.C., the story of everyday actors who see a problem and passionately rally for its resolution is more common. One such story is that of Sean Lilly Wilson.
The birth of Pop the Cap
Folks today go downtown expecting to pass a brewery or beer garden, but such luxuries were not around in 2003 when Wilson and company launched “Pop the Cap,” a campaign to remove the legal “Alcohol By Volume” (ABV) limit on alcohol sales in North Carolina.
Their messaging was succinct. “I don’t know if it’s dadaistic or, you know, just reality, or what,” Wilson remembers, “but we were this group that had a singular issue…We positioned ourselves and messaged ourselves as ‘All we want is six words taken out of the general statutes: and not more than six percent.’”
Under state law at the time, craft beer—a genre distinct for its flavor intensity and small-scale brewers, and which tends to have ABVs upwards of six to ten percent—was effectively illegal to brew or sell in North Carolina. Modeling themselves off the success of “Georgians for World Class Beer,” Wilson got together with friends and other craft beer fans—folks involved in the craft beer scene but not in positions to benefit commercially from its legalization—and asked the state to “pop the cap”.
“We would meet with legislators, and more than one of them was like, ‘Yeah…but really why are you here,’" Wilson says. “We sort of played the dumb, outsider, true grass roots thing to our advantage as like ‘we don’t want—we have nothing to leverage. We just want this stupid law changed.’”
Raising the Bar
The honest and innocuous nature of their campaign likely played a role in their success, allowing them to appeal to common values and desires. But their campaign was not immune to backlash and competition. As Pop the Cap gained momentum, they hired a lobbyist, Theresa Kostrzewa, to guide them through politics’ inevitable tests and tradeoffs.
It was Kostrzewa’s idea, for example, to organize a craft beer and cheese pairing event for women in the state legislature, hosted in her home. “I wasn’t there, because I am neither a woman nor a legislator,” Wilson said, but he remembers the event’s impact was big. “Especially at the time, you’ve got to remember, craft beer…people weren’t really talking about it; it was pretty novel.” The tasting defined a previously misunderstood label, showing that craft beer, despite carrying a higher ABV, can be the centerpiece of a family-friendly gathering.
The event worked because it demonstrated the campaign’s deeper goals. Craft beer isn’t just a product, and it certainly isn’t a commodity. To the latter point, craft brews run a higher price tag than commercial beers do. They can do so by offering more flavor and, consequently, incentivizing their drinkers to savor each sip. To the former, the beers at the pairing, and the beers Wilson and company hoped to legalize, offer more than their can’s contents. They offer an experience, a reason to gather and be in community. And, as their name suggests, they offer an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to take the craft beer concept and make it their own. They are made to be localized, celebrated, and shared.
These deeper messages were important for the campaign's success. The opposition to Pop the Cap was not limited to one side of the aisle. Urban Democrats had doubts about what expanding the ABV limit would mean for order in their city’s streets. Rural conservatives responding to the Christian Action League, the campaign's primary opposition, voiced concerns about the law change’s moral implications. But without managing to turn every heart, Pop the Cap certainly united folks.
With little fanfare given the small scale of both the campaign and the amendment, the law passed. In the years since, South Carolina adopted the Pop the Cap model for its own statewide campaign, and Wilson has maintained a role in the legislative landscape of North Carolina’s breweries. He served as president of the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild, developing it into a mature organization better able to compete at the lobbying level. He also worked alongside others to launch a similar, successful, campaign to allow beer sales at farmers’ markets (which already permitted wine sales).
The Pop the Cap campaign is proof that local problems do not need to wait on federal solutions. Working together with different-minded folks at the local and state level, united by a common interest, can lead to real change. Focusing on fellowship is a strong tactic for reaching all sides of the aisle, and pairing a request with cheese never hurts.
Adeleine Geitner is a rising senior at Duke University studying public policy and economics. She is the Duke Urban Studies Initiative Fellow on Sprawl Repair and Nodal Development.
It was very successful, but they missed one 6% cap -- the limit for Brew On Premises licenses. I want to get that fixed, but will it take a massive public campaign or just a call to a state rep?