Craft brewing grew up on beer-and-a-handshake deals. An artist liked the brewery, liked the founders, liked the project, and put pen to paper before anybody thought about diligence schedules, disclosure letters, or chain-of-title memos. Those days are not gone. They
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Chicago Zoning and Special Use Permits: Tucker Ellis Secures MariGrow Cannabis Dispensary Win Through Appeal
Chicago zoning fights rarely end with a single hearing. Our recent win for Marigrow (link to Illinois 1st District appellate opinion (rule 23 order) regarding this cannabis zoning matter originiating from a hearing and win at the Chicago Zoning
When Suppliers Walk Away from Inventory: What Alcohol Distributors Can Learn from Labatt USA v. Friends Beverage Group
Alcohol distributors know the scenario too well: a brand underperforms, the parties agree to unwind, and the supplier promises to “take care of” remaining inventory—until the calls stop, the warehouse fills up, and the storage invoices keep coming.
A recent
“Unquestionably Legitimate” and Day v. Henry: Will the Supreme Court Finally Clarify Retailer Direct-to-Consumer Shipping After Tennessee Wine?
The dicta that ate the doctrine
Watch modern alcohol-case briefing for five minutes and you’ll see the same incantation: the three-tier system counts as “unquestionably legitimate.” The phrase originated in North Dakota v. United States (plurality), where the Court described
Shelf-Stocking as an Illegal Inducement? What Connecticut’s Free-Labor Ruling Means for Alcohol Wholesalers After Loper Bright
A Fedway-Based Critique of Conn. Fine Wine & Spirits v. Liquor Control Commission
The Connecticut Appellate Court’s recent decision in Conn. Fine Wine & Spirits, LLC v. Department of Consumer Protection, Liquor Control Commission should catch the attention of every
Ninth Circuit Says the Dormant Commerce Clause Doesn’t Apply to Cannabis Licenses — Even Though Raich Said Marijuana Is Interstate Commerce (Enough to Criminalize)
States and municipalities keep acting like cannabis sits in some constitutional no-man’s-land where they can write any residency barrier they want and the Constitution somehow doesn’t count.
The Ninth Circuit just gave that instinct a major assist.
In Peridot Tree
Can a City Take Cannabis Revenue and Still Ban Cannabis Billboards? The First Amendment Just Said No.
States and municipalities keep acting like cannabis sits in some constitutional no-man’s-land where they can write any advertising restriction they can dream up and the First Amendment somehow doesn’t count.
We’ve seen this movie before. In Cocroft v. Graham a
New Federal Hemp Rules and the 0.4 mg THC Cap: Bad News for Hemp Drinks
Congress just slipped a near-total federal hemp rewrite into the shutdown bill. If you blinked, you missed it.
Section 781 of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 quietly amends the 2018
From Farm Bill Freedom to State Control: Tenth Circuit Upholds Wyoming’s Hemp Restrictions
The dispute in Green Room LLC v. Wyoming arose after Wyoming’s 2024 legislative session produced Senate Enrolled Act 24 (SEA 24) — a sweeping rewrite of the state’s hemp law that pushed Wyoming’s regulatory stance far beyond the federal definition
TTB Publishes Shutdown Plan: What It Means for the Beverage Industry
On October 1, 2025, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) released its updated shutdown plan in the event of a lapse in federal appropriations; here is a link – Treasury_TTB_Lapse_Plan.
The plan makes clear that almost