The United States Treasury Department released a report on February 9, 2022, titled "Competition in the Markets for Beer, Wine, and Spirits" (the full text may be seen HERE).  This report has the potential to be very impactful for craft breweries, distilleries and wineries as it publicly addresses many of the issues at both the federal and state level that we have been talking about for a very long time. Bob Pease and the Brewers Association did their usual fantastic [...]

As part of a thorough review that the Alabama Brewers Guild and other industry stakeholders participated in, the Alabama ABC Board recently certified several amendments to its rules and regulations. What follows is not an exhaustive list of those changes. Many of the amendments were for style uniformity or to conform to new statutory requirements. Others were not applicable to the mission of the Guild. The following list is, however, a high-level summary of the changes that should be most [...]

In May the ABC posted its intended actions regarding proposed changes to chapters five and six of Title 20.  Chapter five proposed changes may be viewed HERE, and chapter six proposed changes may be viewed HERE. One interesting change is found in new section 20-x-5-.20.  This section allows for extension of manufacturer licensed premises.  This is potentially a positive change, but seems to be highly restrictive.  We have proposed language that will: Allow finished product to be distributed from the manufacturer [...]

Dan Roberts, our crack Government Affairs Manager, reports the following major progress today! House Bill 539 by Representative Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) just received its final concurrence vote and is headed to the Governor. If signed by the Governor, most of its provisions will go into effect on August 1, 2021. This legislation began as a relatively straightforward measure to increase the off-premise limits for breweries and distilleries. Earlier this week, after discussions with lawmakers and other stakeholders, we had the [...]

The Alabama Brewers Guild and its members were pleased to see the home delivery bill, SB126, pass the House Judiciary committee today after being amended to include brewery and distillery tasting rooms. The amended bill will benefit thousands of local businesses in Alabama still recovering from COVID-related losses, and will provide a convenient and safe purchase option for Alabamians across the state. The Guild especially appreciates its wholesale partners for their work on this legislation. Soon after the public announcement [...]

The Alabama Brewers Guild supports home delivery of alcoholic beverages. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 shutdown, the Guild openly called for an emergency rule to allow home delivery for all licensees to provide relief to the struggling hospitality industry. We closely followed the progress of SB126 this year to codify home delivery into law. This legislation would benefit thousands of small businesses in Alabama from package stores to restaurants to our local breweries. Home delivery would also benefit Birmingham-based Shipt, [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic and response hit craft brewers and distilleries particularly hard. To support our small business distilleries, the Alabama Brewers Guild and the ABC Board partnered to showcase locally-owned spirits at 25 ABC stores across Alabama. The Guild developed these displays and partnered with United-Johnson Brothers of Alabama to distribute to the following ABC locations: # 4: Auburn (1199 S Donahue Drive) # 15: Cullman (705 Cullman Shopping Ctr NW) # 39: Trussville (1873-C Gadsden Hwy) # 45: Huntsville [...]

At the beginning of the session, the Alabama Brewers Guild released a comprehensive reform agenda called Brewery Modernization 2.0. The state legislature passed two key provisions of this agenda during the 2019 regular legislative session, and the Guild is committed to continuing to work to bring common sense reform to the alcohol regulatory system in Alabama.Brewery Modernization 2.0 is an ambitious reform package designed to "clean-up" the law to better account for the current state of the industry and [...]

Excise taxes are probably the least-fun part of the beer industry, but they are important for brewers. House Bill 151, introduced by Representative Nordgren and awaiting a hearing in the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, would solve a major issue with the ABC beer excise tax when applied to brewery tasting rooms. What is the ABC Beer Excise Tax in Alabama? per barrel when the keg is sold by wholesalers per barrel when [...]

On Tuesday, March 19, Representative Rebecca Nordgren of Gadsden introduced HB151, also known as Brewery Modernization 2.0. This legislation is designed to update and clean-up the Brewery Modernization Act, the landmark 2011 legislation that legalized tasting rooms in Alabama. Brewery Modernization 2.0 is the culmination of almost two years of review of the existing regulatory system. Derrell Winowich, president of the Alabama Brewers Guild and owner of Chattahoochee Brewing Co, remarked, "Tasting rooms have been legal in Alabama for about [...]