Cheers to Change: The New Wis. Stat. 125 – Contract Manufacturing

02/15/24 Update: A previous version of this post mentioned that product produced under a Contract Production agreement (#2 below) could be counted towards a Host’s total production volume for the purposes of Full Service Retail sale privileges under the new statute, that is not the case. Product produced under a contract production agreement\recipe brewing agreement … Read more

Cheers to Change: The New Wis. Stat. 125 – Full Service Retail

The landscape of Wisconsin’s alcoholic beverage regulations has recently undergone substantial changes with the revision of Wis. Stat. Chapter 125. In this post we will be discussing one of the most substantial changes, specifically, the ability of breweries, wineries, and distilleries to offer beer, wine, and spirits (“full service retail” under the new statute) at … Read more

The Corporate Transparency Act is Coming, is Your Company Ready?

Two days before Christmas Eve 2020, I drafted this blog post regarding the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). As of January 1, 2024, the CTA will be enforced for all new and existing entities. If you’re interested in what the CTA means for your business, please read on. The CTA is set to fundamentally change corporate … Read more

Authorized, Issued, and Outstanding

Very often we get questions from clients regarding “authorized” – “issued” – and “outstanding” shares and what the terms mean in the context of corporations and raising money. Below is a quick explanation of the terms; thanks for reading. Authorized Shares means the total (read, total ever that could be) shares a Corporation can create or “cut … Read more

Contract Distilling? Sure, We Can Do That!

Friday May 12, 2023 was a big day here at the office. Thanks to the efforts of City Brewing and Wisconsin Brewing Company, the Department of Revenue issued a declaratory ruling that approved contract production (through Alternating Proprietorships, or straight contract) between distilleries (and by extension and our reading of the statute, wineries too). This … Read more

Can Identical Trademarks Co-Exist?

What happens when two trademarks have the same spelling? Can they coexist? The answer is yes, but with some caveats. The Trademark Act provides for a system of trademark classes to categorize goods and services. Classes 1-34 cover goods, while classes 35-45 cover services. The use of the same trademark is permissible across different classes, … Read more

My Gin Was Made From Vodka?

From Pixel Bay

This post is about Chapter 4 of the Distilled Spirits Beverage Alcohol Manual (“BAM“). The BAM is the classification guide the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB“) will use to classify a distilled spirits product into a category (whisky, gin, vodka etc.) depending on its formula. This post is pretty short, but pretty nerdy. … Read more