O'Malley delays `alcopops' measure

Weighs question of drinks as `gateway' for teenagers

The group also brought samples of the drinks, including one peach-flavored sample of "Twisted Tea," which they asserted would be hard for any police officer to know was an alcoholic drink.

Hurley said he and others were "very pleased" O'Malley put off signing the bill, although the governor did express trepidation about a veto, they said, since it would effectively raise taxes on alcoholic drinks, something that hasn't occurred in Maryland since 1955 for liquor and 1972 for beer and wine.

O'Malley initially urged the activists to consider the possibility that he sign the bill and revisit the issue next year, according to participants in the meeting. Advocates said they strongly opposed that idea, arguing that it would be too difficult to create a specific category for the drinks once they were codified as beer in the law.

"It was a very good meeting," Hurley said, noting that O'Malley was engaged and listened intently on the discussions. "He's got teenagers himself, and the issue of underaged drinking is serious business. We're raising our kids in a corrosive atmosphere, and alcopops would add fuel to that fire."

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Sun reporter Laura Smitherman contributed to this article.