Alcohol Law Advisor

Regulatory and Distribution Law Updates for the Alcohol Industry

Subscribe
Visit Blog
By: McDermott Will & Emery

Blog Authors

Arthur J. DeCelle
Anthony DeMaio
Andrea Hamilton
Ashley L. McMahon
Barrett. K. Lopez
Bethany Hatef
Benjamin O. Kostrzewa
Christopher M. Lahiff
McDermott Will & Emery
David Ransom
Dwight Mersereau
Eleanor B. Atkins
Emily Townsend
Emily Rickard
McDermott Will & Emery
Jennifer Aronoff
Jessica Bayles
W. Kam Quarles
Katherine F. Froelicher
Kevin Spencer
Lynette Ryan Arce
Lauren A. Ferrante
Mélanie Bruneau
McDermott Will & Emery
T. Marshall Fawley III
McDermott Will & Emery
Mary Hallerman
Mary Kay McCalla Martire
Marc Sorini
Robin L. Greenhouse
Robert W. Zelnick
Stuart Mathews
Steffen Woitz
Vanessa K. Burrows
Veronica Pinotti
William M. Friedman

Latest from Alcohol Law Advisor

116th Congress’ first cannabis-related hearing Next week, Congress will hold a long-awaited hearing on the future of banking in the cannabis industry. On Wednesday the 13th, the House Financial Services Committee Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee will convene a hearing entitled, “Challenges and Solutions: Access to Banking Services for Cannabis-Related Businesses.” Among the discussion points will be the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which was introduced and championed in the last Congress…
Rapid growth in the number of small and independent breweries that rely on taproom sales has received a lot of attention—not all of it positive—across the beer industry. Until this unprecedented growth, taproom sales went largely unnoticed. Competing retailers, beer wholesalers, and even well-established craft brewers were pleased with steadily growing craft beer sales and consumer demand. As demand has leveled out and competition has increased, taprooms are receiving increased scrutiny. In an article published…
On Wednesday, January 9, 2019, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) announced the leadership team of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus for the 116th Congress. In addition to Mr. Blumenauer, the Caucus will be co-chaired by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK). Mr. Blumenauer helped found the Caucus in 2017 with the goal of providing a bipartisan forum for discussing and collaborating on sensible federal cannabis legislation. The Caucus has a…
In late September 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari (i.e. the Court agreed to hear a case) brought before the Court by the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association (Tennessee Retailers) in Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Byrd. The petition requested that the Court review the lower court’s decision upholding a finding that Tennessee’s two-year residency requirement for retail license applicants is unconstitutional. Specifically, the question…
As you likely have read in the trade press already, on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in Lebamoff v. Rauner. The opinion adds three judges of the Seventh Circuit to the collection of legal minds rejecting the notion that the dormant Commerce Clause non-discrimination principles applied by the Supreme Court in Bacchus (1984) and Granholm (2005) should be limited to laws discriminating against…
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a new regulation that would require food manufacturers to disclose information about bioengineered (BE) food and BE food ingredients. The proposed rule is the result of a 2016 law that required the USDA to establish a National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard for all food. For purposes of the BE disclosure law, “food” includes alcohol beverages intended for human consumption as well as non-alcohol beverages. Read …
Earlier this week, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued further guidance on the procedures for importers to take the lower tax rates and credits available under the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA). Key points of the new guidance: CBP will process drawback claims on an oldest-entry-first basis. Failure to substantiate drawback claims by January 31, 2019, risks a loss of the CBMA rates/credits for the entries in question. Going forward, every entry seeking to…
On September 18, 2018, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued TTB Industry Guidance 2018-10, a webpage consisting of questions and answers related to formulas. According to TTB, this new guidance “essentially replaces” Industry Circular 2007-4, which provided the framework for pre-COLA product evaluations. TTB has removed Industry Circular 2007-4 from its website. The release of Industry Guidance 2018-10 comes with troubling implications. TTB has essentially revoked an Industry Circular signed…
During the International Wine Association’s 2018 Conference, Marc Sorini presented on the latest law developments, including the Commerce Clause and First Amendment. The topic was made particularly timely by the Supreme Court’s September 27 decision to grant certiorari review of the Byrd v. Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association decision. View the full presentation.…