After two recent changes to alcohol legislation in Georgia, beer drinkers have plenty to be excited for in 2012. Sunday alcohol sales were finally permitted in Atlanta on New Year’s Day. In addition, beer growlers were permitted for the sale of take-home draft beer in December 2010 due to a loophole in distribution laws.

The changes came in response to a growing culture of craft beer drinkers, who enjoy traditional & experimental recipes, food & beer pairings, tastings, and who carefully choose their beer based on quality and taste as opposed to quantity or price. These “hop-heads” in Georgia now have even more to celebrate with the new legislation. More accessibilty will allow small breweries to reach new customers in Georgia, especially with the help of beer growlers, which are often used to sample unfamiliar flavors or brands.

The effects of growler sales will take time to develop as the awareness of beer growlers is low, so many beer drinkers still need to be educated on the benefits of growlers.

A traditional growler is a 64oz glass jug, filled with draft beer straight from the keg for later consumption (take-out beer). Most places that sell growlers focus on craft beers that are hard to find in package stores or local bars, setting themselves up as a great place to discover a new favorite beer. Customers pay a small, one-time fee for the growler (about $5) then choose the beer they want to bring home. If the customer brings the growler back to the store, he or she will only have to pay for the cost of beer (& not the $5 growler fee). So, another great bonus to growlers is that they are recycled, making them eco-friendly and promoting sustainable living habits.

Although growlers are not common with mainstream drinkers, the emerging popularity of craft beers is helping bring this new trend to beer drinkers in Georgia. In fact, Scoutmob Atlanta is currently running a deal for a $10 growler full of SweetWater beer from Hop City Beer & Wine. Beer drinkers can also look forward to the massive expansion at SweetWater Brewing Company, which will keep fresh, craft beer flowing in Georgia for many years.

I was preparing my future expenses, wondering how much I might be paying for cable, when I stopped myself: Why would I ever pay for cable if I pay for internet?

It’s best to watch as little television as possible anyway, but I’ve noticed that anything I do watch is readily available after a short click on my laptop, including live sports. Besides a monthly internet bill, the only other payment I would make is for my $15 monthly Netflix account, which immediately takes care of most of my viewing needs with the “watch instantly” feature.

For anything unavailable on Netflix, I check out the official site of each TV network for free internet programming, including NBC.com for the Thursday night comedy lineup (Office, 30Rock, Parks & Rec, Community) and SNL, Hulu or FOX.com for any other sitcom or drama, etc.

*Some networks might wait an hour or a day before making a new episode available online.  I can wait.

The greatest perk for me is that with a few sites like USTREAM.com, AtdheNet.TV, & ESPN3.com I can watch all the live sports I need, including SportsCenter, absolutely free (except for the internet bill, of course).  As long as this is the case, I won’t be paying for cable.

This is certainly something for advertisers to think about.

Super Bowl XLVI is just around the corner, and startups will be paying up huge money for 30 seconds of ad space.  Perhaps a better strategy would be to save money, and instead of paying millions for ads on TV, pay much less for ads on one of these free internet sites.

In the meantime, VentureBeat just reported that Sony has made The Godfather available in its entirety on YouTube, and I doubt this is a one-time occurrence.  Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for YouTube, but with all the other options, it’s not even necessary.

When I watch this ad, I mostly think of Coca-Cola.  This should be especially discouraging for Pepsi because I never think of Pepsi as I’m being charmed by a nice Coke commercial. Also, I don’t expect many to be delighted by the thought of polar bears “working on their tans, bro.”  With global climate changes threatening the lives of our real polar bear friends in the arctic, I imagine Pepsi has already heard from PETA.  They could’ve hired a famous girl to say “I drink Pepsi” for 30 seconds, but they had to go with the low blow, and it was well below the belt.