Experienced And Knowledgeable With Both The Alcohol beverage Industry And The Law
In an effort to increase formula and label processing times, the TTB issued two new rulings, one for spirits and one for wine, outlining even more products that do not require formula submission. TTB noted: “We encourage all industry members to review these Rulings and the Industry Circular to determine whether formula approvals are still required for your products. Industry…
A complaint was filed September 20, 2016, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York involving two of the larger wine and spirit distributors in New York and Maryland. The Plaintiff, Empire Merchants LLC (“Empire”), part of the Charmer Sunbelt group, is suing its Maryland distributorship, Reliable Churchill LLLP, as well as, Breakthru Beverage’s co-chairman…
Plea negotiations are ongoing in the case of a former MillerCoors executive’s “scheme to defraud his employer through invoices for fake marketing events,” according to Law360. Former MillerCoors VP David Colletti pled guilty to recruiting vendors to help him scam MillerCoors. According to Law360, “in May, Colletti, who ran the company’s marketing, admitted to coaching vendors…to submit inflated or falsified invoices for…
The New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) fined two liquor stores $20,000 each for cooperative buying. The stores are owned by a husband and wife, each owning one store. New York rules prohibit joining together to purchase products at a reduced, volume discounted price. A clip from the hearing is available here and worth watching: SLA Co-Op Clip As you will…
Alcohol beverage industry attorneys, including myself, share their thoughts on the rise of the craft spirits business.
The New York SLA established what it calls a “one stop craft beverage shop” to assist craft manufacturers and wholesalers. Craft manufacturers and wholesalers can submit questions about their license privileges and operations to [email protected]. Those interested in starting a craft manufacturing or wholesale business are also encouraged to submit their questions. When an email comes in to the “one…
Oasis Texas Brewing Company, an Austin, TX brewery, settled a trademark dispute with New Belgium Brewing, makers of the well known Fat Tire beer. According to the Houston Chronicle, the settlement allows Oasis to use the term “Slow Ride” on a beer within the state of Texas only, but may not call the same beer “Slow Ride” outside of Texas.…
The TTB recently issued a 2016-1 Ruling “in response to complaints from a number of industry members who expressed concerns over potential abuse of the narrow Tied-House exception provided for in 27 CFR 6.99(b), which removes only the act of providing a recommended shelf plan or shelf schematic from the prohibited means to induce enumerated in 27 U.S.C. 205(b)(3).” As…
Unlike many states, California law does not require employees serving alcohol to consumers to complete any responsible server training courses. Rather, it is optional and a practice that some corporate restaurant groups require. A new bill proposed on February 17, 2016, would establish the Responsible Interventions for Beverage Servers (“RIBS”) Training Act of 2016. Beginning July 1, 2020, on-premise employees…
According to the Chicago Tribune, Goose Island sold its brewpub, taproom, to AB InBev, five years after Goose Island sold its brewery to AB InBev. Goose Island founder, John Hall, told the Tribune that he was unable to sell the brewpub under Illinois law at the time of the brewery sale in 2011. The taproom will be a subsidiary of…
