An attempt to permit Georgia breweries to sell beer to restaurants, bars, and stores failed Tuesday when state senators refused to vote on the bill.

The proposal’s demise means that craft brewers can still only provide alcohol to in-person customers, who are allowed to buy up to 24 cans of beer to-go.

Craft brewers told senators that their small businesses are unable to compete with large, name-brand beer companies and distributors that hold a near-monopoly on retail sales.

“What we’re trying to do is have a fair market so we can serve the people in our in our communities,” said Thomas Monti of Schoolhouse Brewing in Marietta. “We’re not asking for the moon. We’re asking for a fair slice of the pie.”

The sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Tim Bearden, R-Carrollton, amended the bill Tuesday to try to gain more support, but that effort fell short in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.

Senate Bill 456 would have allowed brewers to sell up to 500 barrels of beer annually within county lines and increased the limit on to-go orders from one case of beer to three.

When state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, called for a vote by the committee, no other senator seconded his motion.

Alcohol distributors opposed the bill because they said it would have altered Georgia’s regulations that separate alcohol makers, distributors and retailers.

“Georgia’s proven system works best when breweries focus on making great beer, wholesalers ensure it is delivered safely and efficiently statewide, and retailers focus on serving customers responsibly,” the Georgia Beer Wholesalers Association said in a statement. “We cannot support a bill that would negatively impact all three portions of this proven system.”

Dr. Robert Brewer, the former director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Alcohol Program, said the bill would have led to more alcohol consumption, health problems and driving-under-the-influence arrests.

“Even reasonably smart people, including me, can do dumb things like drinking too much at times. But as a society, we don’t have to make it easier for people to make bad choices,” Brewer said at the committee hearing.

Bearden said he wanted to help over 170 breweries in towns across Georgia.

“This is for our small breweries, those individuals that took a chance on our downtown areas when there were basically no one there,” Bearden said. “A lot of these areas are very depressed. So this is small business bill, just trying to help our small breweries out so they can make a living.”

The bill is stalled for now with diminishing odds of approval before the General Assembly’s deadline next week for legislation to pass at least one chamber, either the Senate or House.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.