Alcohol and Liquor

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As we look forward to 2022, we have summarized key alcoholic beverage legal changes in California from the past year that may affect your business.

The below list of alcoholic beverage laws either went into effect immediately late in 2021 or went into effect on January 1, 2022. The legal changes span from extending pandemic relief to permitting licensed wineries to open an additional off-site tasting room, to legalization of to-go cocktails, to eased restrictions on charitable giving, among many others. If your business involves the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages, odds are good these changes affect you. As always if you have any questions regarding these new laws or the potential effect of these changes to your business, facility, or products, please contact our California alcoholic beverage attorneys.

Assembly Bill 61 – Business Pandemic Relief

Bus. & Prof. Code § 25750.5: On October 8, 2021, effective immediately, and for up to 365 days from the date the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor is lifted, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) may permit licensees to exercise license privileges in an expanded licensed area.

Previously, it was unlawful for a licensee of the ABC to sell or serve alcoholic beverages outside of the licensed establishment’s approved footprint, with few exceptions. The ABC, pursuant to emergency orders of the Governor relating to COVID-19, has established temporary relief measures to suspend certain legal restrictions relating to expansion of licensed footprint, sales of to-go alcoholic beverages, and delivery privileges. A.B. 61 specifically authorizes the ABC to permit licensees to exercise their license privileges in an expanded area for up to 365 days after the end of the state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor. This expanded area includes on-sale consumption of alcohol on property controlled by the licensee adjacent to licensed premises.
Continue Reading Cheers to a New Year: California’s New Alcoholic Beverage Laws for 2022

On December 8, 2021, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“LCB”) approved New Rules to extend temporary pandemic-related licensee privileges for to-go orders and permanently amend the food service requirement for liquor licensees. The New Rules are clearly a step towards providing licensees additional flexibility to sell alcohol products in light of the ongoing pandemic.

The New Rules extend and amend endorsements for certain “to-go” products permitting licensees additional flexibility for selling to-go alcoholic beverages. First, the New Rules permit delivery by a third-party instead of only employees of the licensee. Second, the New Rules remove the obligation that breweries, wineries, and distilleries label to-go alcohol products and, for breweries and wineries, permit the sale of prefilled growlers in certain circumstances. Third, the New Rules clarify that payment for to-go wine and cocktails must be processed by a licensee’s direct employee. There are no fees for these endorsements, and they will now expire on July 1, 2023.
Continue Reading Washington State Liquor Control Board Extends Pandemic-Related Privileges for Licensees

This post was guest authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Alex Pearson.

With the Washington State Legislature’s third special session at a close, now is a good time for alcoholic beverage producers and distributors to take a moment to look at five bills that passed the Legislature and were signed into law by Governor Inslee this past session. All are effective as of July 23, 2017, and create new opportunities for producers and distributors. What follows is a summary of the more notable additions and modifications made by these new laws. Please note that these laws affect a variety of licensees, so we encourage all producers and distributors to evaluate these changes with their attorney.

Legal Definition of Mead

One of the world’s oldest alcoholic beverages—mead—finally has a legal definition in Washington. S.H.B. 1176 amends RCW 66.24.215 and RCW 66.28.360 to define mead as a wine or malt beverage sold as “mead” and which is fermented primarily from honey, but may contain other agricultural products such as fruit, hops, or spices. Those licensed to sell beer or cider in growlers will also be allowed to similarly sell mead to customers, so long as the mead sold has an alcohol content equal to or less than 14 percent alcohol by volume. Additionally, starting January 1, 2018, mead will be exempt from the assessment on wine production that funds the Washington Wine Commission.
Continue Reading 2017 Changes to Washington Liquor Laws Affecting Producers and Distributors

This post was guest authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Antonija Krizanac.

Since the 2017 Oregon Legislative Session convened on February 1, 2017, the Legislature has introduced a variety of bills that impact the Oregon alcohol and beverage industry. Out of the countless proposed bills, five have already been signed by the Governor and will go into effect this year or early 2018 and may impact your business. Following is a summary of those bills.

House Bill 2150: Relating to electronic administration of alcoholic beverage tax provisions

House Bill 2150 requires the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (“OLCC”) to allow manufacturers or distributors of wine, cider, or malt beverages to file by electronic means:

  • A statement of the quantity of wine, cider, or malt beverages produced, purchased, or received, and
  • Payment of privilege taxes on such activities.

This alters the current filing and payment system, which is done on paper. The measure will apply to statements or privilege taxes due on or after July 1, 2019.

Effective date: January 1, 2018
Link to enrolled bill: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2150
Continue Reading 2017 Changes to Oregon Liquor Laws

This post was guest authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Emma Vignali.

On July 23, 2017, numerous Bills will go into effect that will meaningfully impact alcohol and beverage retailers across Washington. Governor Jay Inslee will sign four bills that will create opportunities for alcohol retailers and simplify the licensing process for current and future licensees. Additionally, although not yet passed by the legislature, S.B. 5164 would expand the criteria under RCW 66.24.363 to authorize the issuance of a beer and wine tasting endorsement to small retailers of meat, seafood, poultry, and cheese. The following is a summary of some of the notable changes adopted in these bills. Note that many of the changes affect licenses, so we encourage anyone who sells alcohol in Washington to discuss these changes with their attorney.

Special Permit for Wine Auctions

H.B. 1718 amends RCW 66.20.010 to improve the process for non-profits hoping to hold wine auctions at their charitable events. While the previous process for holding wine auctions proved strenuous for many non-profits, this Bill simplifies the process by creating a special permit specifically for private wine auctions. The special permit allows non-profits to auction wine for off-premises consumption and to provide auction guests with tasting samples of the wine to be auctioned at the event. More than one winery may participate in the auction, but each must be listed on the application for the special permit. A $25.00 fee will be charged for each winery listed on the permit. Non-profit organizations considering holding a private auction should be sure to apply for a permit prior to the event.
Continue Reading 2017 Changes to Washington Liquor Laws Affecting Retailers

Significant changes are on the way for Liquor Laws in Utah.  H.B. 442 passed the legislature on March 8, 2017 and Governor Herbert signed it into law March 29, 2017.  The new law makes numerous changes to how restaurants, dining clubs and off-premise beer retailers will operate.  These changes will create opportunities for some, and present significant challenges for others.  Following is a summary of some of the more meaningful changes for businesses.  Note that the law affects many licensees though, so we encourage anyone who sells alcohol in Utah to discuss the changes with their attorney.

Restaurants and Bars

The law replaces the current Restaurant – Dining Club – Social Club structure with two categories: Restaurants and Bars, making Dining Clubs obsolete.  Bars and restaurants will have to start displaying an 8.5 x 11 sign declaring that they are either a bar or a restaurant, and not the other.

On the good news front, restaurants will be able to choose how they want to operate their own bars from the following three options:
Continue Reading 2017 Changes to Utah Liquor Laws

This post was guest authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Olivier Jamin.

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that D.G. Yuengling and Son, Inc., a Pennsylvania brewery, settled Clean Water Act (CWA) violations involving wastewater discharge into public treatment facilities for $2.8 million and a commitment to…

By Chris Hermann and Bernie Kipp:

Type of Transaction – Asset Purchase versus Stock Purchase. Very important if the acquiring entity wants an immediate continuing operations privilege. Specifically If a PE firm  purchases the assets of the target company  (including the operating name, equipment, IP, inventory and the current brewery  building) and intends to …

The Pacific Northwest Cider Awards (PNWCA) held its second annual cider competition on June 5 and 6 in Seattle. On Friday, June 5, a panel of twenty judges made up primarily of media and cider enthusiasts headed to Seattle Capitol Cider to taste about 145 products in multiple cider categories. Over 35 cideries from the Pacific Northwest participated in the PNWCA. On Saturday, June 6, following the awards, Seattle Cider Company opened its tasting room doors — “The Woods” — to the public and featured 30 ciders from the cideries participating in the PNWCA festival.

The ciders were registered in 14 distinct categories, with gold, silver and bronze medal awarded in almost every category. Each judging panel was made up of 4 or 5 judges who tasted through 2 or 3 categories each. All judges then participated in a second tasting featuring the gold medals of each category to designate the “Best in Show” medal for the 2015 competition. This year’s winner was Wandering Aengus Ciderworks “Bloom,” a cidery based in Salem, Oregon. The complete results of the PNWCA can be found here.

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Continue Reading 2nd annual Pacific Northwest Cider Awards: A celebration of creativity and diversity.

Clean Water Services (CWS), a water resources management utility in the Tualatin River Watershed, has been creatively exploring a new opportunity for the brewery industry. CWS is taking beneficial reuse of water to a new level by proposing the reuse of recycled water in the brewing process, a proposal first approved by the Oregon Health Authority in September 2014.

The reuse of recycled water in the brewing process has found support in various Oregon organizations: tests showed that the proposed treatment presents very low risk to human health, promotes the importance of conserving water, promotes the need to engage a dialogue about potable reuse, and would help meeting the growing demand for beers. The proposal has the potential to create a new market but raises a few issues.

Health and Sanitary Concerns

The recycled water must be treated to meet or exceed all regulated drinking water contaminant criteria. The analysis regarding the recycled water used to brew small batches of beer revealed that the water was at least as pure and clean as regular water used from municipal resources, and the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission approved the experimentation. A round of public comments on the question was held mid-April 2015. One of the concerns was that wastewater contains “emerging contaminants” that are not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act or the Clean Water Act, and consequently, while the recycled water could meet technical drinking water requirements, it still could pose a threat to human health because some of the contaminants are not addressed in those requirements.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently revising CWS’s permit requirements to address these issues and make sure that all risks to human health are eliminated when using recycled water in beer production.
Continue Reading Raising water conservation awareness by drinking beer

The folks at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“PTO”) received nearly half a million trademark applications last year. These applications included thousands of new filings by breweries, vineyards, wineries, and distilleries. Here are five important lessons we learned from last year’s decisions by various trademark tribunals about protecting and registering your mark in the beer, wine or spirits industries.
Continue Reading Five Important Trademark Lessons the Beverages Trade Learned in 2014

About the Alcoholic Beverages Law Blog

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The Stoel Rives Alcohol Beverage Blog provides wineries, breweries, distilleries, cideries, distributors and importers with articles and information across a broad spectrum of state and federal alcohol beverage law. The authors work on alcohol beverage related projects from our bases in California, Oregon and Washington, throughout the Western United States and beyond.