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Libation Litigation: TX Lawyer Quits the Law to Brew Beer

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on November 29, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Cheers to Dallas attorney Michael Peticolas, who has quit his law practice and is going solo -- as in, sole proprietor of the city's first standalone microbrewery, the Peticolas Brewing Company.

It's not that he's completely lost his taste for the law. He just likes craft beer much better.

A video clip posted this week on the new brewery's website shows he's just getting started. What it doesn't show is all the legal maneuvering it took to get there.

First, he had to plead with the Dallas City Council for a zoning change in order to open the Peticolas Brewing Company in an empty warehouse. After many months, he won the council's unanimous support.

Now he's turned his attention to some strict state laws that regulate alcohol sales and marketing. One law states that breweries can't advertise -- but wineries can. There's a pending federal case about this, and he's watching it closely.

Another law prohibits Michael Peticolas from labeling his beer as "beer." Because its alcohol content is less than 4 percent, it has to be labeled as "ale" or "malt liquor" -- a misnomer that Peticolas fears may confuse potential customers.

Still, Peticolas is barreling ahead with his plans. He's topped off his two decades of home-brewing experience with work at a commercial brewery in Denver. And he's even completed a course in "Intensive Brewing Science and Engineering" from the American Brewers Guild.

That won't let him sit for the patent bar, but Michael Peticolas probably doesn't care. Pretty soon he'll have plenty of other bars to think about instead.

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