A recent change to Georgia law raising the 6 percent alcohol cap on beer to 14 percent has left South Carolina as one of only five states that strictly limit the beverage's alcohol content, said Julie Bradford, editor of the 25-year-old All About Beer magazine and member of Pop the Cap, a North Carolina group organizing to remove that state's 6 percent alcohol limit from its beer laws.

If high-alcohol beer makes you envision cheap cans of malt liquor, think again. Advocates for changing beer laws say they are interested in high-end specialty beers -- sipping beers, if you will.

"I think there's a misconception that if a beer has more alcohol, people will get more drunk," said John Watts, head brewer at the Hilton Head Brewing Co., the only local brewery, "but you don't sit around and pound a barley wine after you mow the lawn."

Watts said some bars in California serve barley wine, which is about 8 percent to 10 percent alcohol, in an 8-ounce snifter rather than a pint glass.

"It's a beer to be savored," he said. "It's very thick and malty."

Current South Carolina law allows the sale of beer only if it is 5 percent alcohol by weight or less, said Danny Brazell, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue. That's the equivalent of about 6 percent alcohol by volume, a more common measure, Bradford said.

That means many styles of beer that are popular around the world are unavailable here. Bradford said some of those include "bocks, doppelbocks, imperial stouts, barley wines, many India pale ales and most traditional Belgian beers produced by monasteries."

Watts explained that the amount of malt determines the alcohol content of beer, but it also affects the flavor. More malt means higher alcohol, but it also gives beer a rich, sweet flavor totally unlike the light beers consumed by most Americans.

As a brewer, Watts said he is not alone in wanting to produce styles of beer not allowed under current law. South Carolina brewers talked about forming a guild a few years ago, and "one thing mentioned by a majority of brewers was that they'd love to have the law changed," he said.

Local sellers of specialty beers say there is a demand for higher alcohol beers in the Lowcountry.

Claude Auerbach, owner of Wines, Etc. in greater Bluffton, said he gets a number of requests for beers that are illegal to sell here.

"I get the same reaction from people all the time, 'I can get it in Virginia,' or Maryland or Washington, wherever it may be," he said. "I can't get it, but I would love to carry it."

Auerbach also worries that the change in the Georgia law will hurt his business, as customers could drive to Savannah to buy specialty beers.

The law "drives us nuts," he said.

Jamie Guscio, owner of Scuppernongs beer and wine store in Bluffton, agreed.

"People come in from all over looking for beers they can get in their home states," he said, "but they can't get them here because of the laws. They don't understand why they can't buy beer over 6 percent alcohol, but can buy Everclear at the liquor store. It's a confusing dilemma."

Guscio said he plans to start a petition to change South Carolina's law in order to gauge the level of support in the area.

There is no serious campaign under way to change South Carolina's beer laws, but Guscio has an ally in John Lowery. The professor at the University of South Carolina at Columbia said he recently heard about North Carolina's Pop the Cap and has asked for that group's advice in starting up a similar campaign here.

He is motivated purely by self-interest.

"I'm just a person who enjoys a number of beers you cannot get in South Carolina," he said.

Originally from Virginia, he said he stocks up on beer to bring back every time he visits family there, but he'd love to buy that same beer at a local store or restaurant.

Lowery said he knows it might not be easy to change the law. North Carolinians are entering their third year of campaigning.

And it has taken 10 years to get a proposed change in the constitution before South Carolina's voters, who will get their chance this November to repeal the mandatory use of minibottles in all state bars and restaurants. This is the only state using the little bottles, which typically are associated with drinks served on airplanes.

But Bradford said Pop the Cap learned from the experiences of similar groups in Ohio and Georgia, both of which were successful, and she wants to pass along that knowledge.

"We're ready to franchise," she said.