Introduction
The Illinois legislature is adjourning in a week and today several liquor bills passed both houses including a bill that creates a distiller pub license. Interesting enough, a bill that would make changes to the existing brew pub license did not get called for a vote today and its deadline was extended for […]
Governor J.B. Pritzker proposed increasing liquor taxes as a way to pay for his capital plan. His proposed plan would increase the tax on beer from 23.1 cents to 27.7 cents per gallon, would increase the tax on wine from $1.39 to $2.05 per gallon, and would increase the tax on spirits from $8.55 to […]
Today marks the 1st Anniversary of irishliquorlawyer.com.
As I look back on this first year, I never could have predicted where I have gone on this journey.
irishliquorlawyer.com which started as a blog to review Illinois liquor issues has turned into a national blog. But the success of this blog is owed to so many people that […]
Illinois recently came out with the first draft of legalized cannabis legislation. The bill is loaded with social equity provisions which include a program to provide low-interest loans for “social equity applicants”.
Like any first draft nothing is final and everything is a work in progress. When looking at the bill, I noticed that there are […]
Conventional wisdom tells you it should be so easy! Three states with Democratic Governors want to legalize cannabis and in all three states the governors have Democrat supermajorities in both houses of the legislature. Nevertheless, even with these built in advantages, the cannabis legalization bandwagon has screeched to a grinding halt. In Illinois, New Jersey […]
I previously wrote a post on how Miller has no home run hitter in its craft beer space. I contrasted Miller with Budweiser that has Goose Island, Heineken that has Lagunitas, and Constellation that has Ballast Point. https://irishliquorlawyer.com/millercoors-craft-portfolio-will-its-field-of-dreams-come-true-or-will-it-need-to-find-a-home-run-from-somehwere-else/
Like baseball free agency, sometimes a big spend turns into a flop. In 2015 Constellation paid $1 […]
There is a theory out there, that is actually backed up by statistics, that the presence of craft brewers is hurting bars and taverns. An article on this subject cites Bureau of Labor statistics that the number of “on-premise drinking establishments have decreased by 6.3% since 2010.[1]
Bar/tavern owners are starting to take notice […]
The TTB has finally caught the big fish. The TTB announced that it accepted a $2.5 million offer in compromise from Heineken.
The TTB alleged that Heineken offered BrewLock draft systems at no charge, these systems are developed by Heineken and only work with kegs from Heineken. Because of the nature of the system, retailers were […]
In an unsurprising decision the Eastern District of Missouri ruled that a challenge to Missouri’s ban on out-of-state wine retailers shipping to customers within the state, failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted and dismissed the challenge. Sarasota Wine Market v. Parson, Case No. 4:17CV2792 HEA (Eastern District of Missouri, March […]
A Federal District Court judge granted the state’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s case more to follow! Sarasota Wine Market, LLC et al v. Greitens et al 4:17-cv-02792-HEA