Ethiopian Hops and Other Weird Ingredients

The history of beer is strewn with styles you’ve never heard of. We all know about pilsners, and IPAs, and stouts, and ambers. But what about wit, a fizzy yellow Dutch beer made with coriander and grains of paradise? Or gruit, a Northern European style brewed with pine, sweet gale, or mugwort? Or T’ej, an … Read more

No, Your Wisconsin Liquor Store/Tavern/Restaurant/Bar Cannot Direct Ship To Consumers.

Since I’ve gotten calls on this twice in the past two weeks, maybe it is good public information. No, your Wisconsin Liquor Store/Tavern/Restaurant/Bar cannot direct ship to consumers. It is certainly not legal to direct ship to consumers in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 125 requires “face-to-face” sales and prohibits delivery direct to consumers from any … Read more

Social Distancing: You Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Ship?

We’ve been getting a lot (a lot) of questions about how breweries, wineries, or distilleries can practice and encourage effective “social distancing” with their clientele. So, let’s review for the record: Basic Rule: Breweries, Wineries, and Distilleries can sell at their place of manufacture/tasting room for off-premise consumption. In other words, they can all sell … Read more

Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers v TABC

In our ongoing coverage of the Supreme Court this term (apparently we’ve turned into a news feed), this week the United States Supreme Court weighed in on alcohol beverage distribution issues (Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn v. Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission, decided June 26, 2019). Justice Alito wrote the opinion for the majority (7-2), … Read more

Wedding Barns Under Attack

The Tavern League and Distributors have been trying to get wedding barns closed for years. Why? Because the members of the Tavern League include hotels, restaurants, and convention centers. People are choosing to get married at barns instead of hotels and holding events at barns instead of convention centers and restaurants. Tavern League and Distributors … Read more

No Quippy Acronyms Here – TTB CBMTR Guidance

  The United States Tobacco and Trade Bureau (“TTB”) has finally issued guidance around the pieces of Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform (the TTB is not as good at acronyms or naming as our legislators) contained in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”). The Tax Act made a number of changes to … Read more

Building an Ecosystem

I’ve been doing some research into how to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem – something I have been tasked with for one of the many projects I seem to have stumbled into. I came across this great list of values that should be embedded into an ecosystem. But, as I read the values, it really seems … Read more