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 so generously provided me with their precious time. I need to thank them individually.

 

Thank you list

To Pete Dolan of Elmhurst Brewing Company, you were my first interview, thank you.

To Sonat Hart of Koval, you really help put irishliquorlawyer.com on the map, thank you.

To Professor Alex Tanford, your candid interviews and your unique prose make your interviews very informative and entertaining for the audience, thank you.

To Lyden Henderson, you opened up the world of TCH beer for me, thank you.

To Smoke Wallin, you are a true leader in the cannabis field and your perspective coming from the liquor world was quite unique, thank you.

To Jo Moak of WSWA, your organization has always been responsive and great to deal with, thank you.

To Tom Wark from NAWR, your perspective on the industry is greatly appreciated, thank you.

To Richard Blau who has been a great friend, thank you.

To John Hinman, who got me involved in interesting projects and has been a great friend, thank you.

To Liza Zimmerman who has allowed me to contribute to her great articles in Forbes and winesearcher.com, thank you.

To all my secret sources that get me information before the public gets it, and allows me to be an earlier reporter on important issues, you know who you are and it is our secret, thank you.

To my readers, I am truly grateful for all my readers that inspire me to write, thank you.

Finally, to my wife, the best wife in the world, and the person who reads all my blogs before they go live, you are awesome. And to my son, who sacrifices time playing with dad to allow me write this blog. Thank you and mom and I love you both.

 

Reflections

As mentioned previously, this blog has taken me to places I never imagined.

I never thought I would receive media credentials to cover a case at the U.S. Supreme Court, but there I was in press row for the Tennessee Wine ­case.

Funny thing about this case, irishliquorlawyer.com broke news on the U.S Supreme Court granting cert on Tennessee Wine and then the Supreme Court took down the information, which left me scrambling to prove myself right. The Supreme Court finally reposted the information I had initially seen, but irishliquorlawyer.com had its first what do I do now situation!

Also, my subscriber list has grown and includes subscribers as far away as Paris and New Zealand, and yes New Zealand is pretty far away.

This blog has provided me the opportunity to speak at national conferences and become a contributor to national publications such as Forbes and winesearcher.com.

And yes, I even made the leap into an international publication in Europe and Asia.

During the year cannabis became part of the portfolio and I will provide analysis and interviews pertaining to Cannabis. Like liquor it is entering an exciting phase and I am ready to capture it!

In the beginning I strived to provide a perspective on my home state of Illinois. But as I said I could have never predicted the road ahead and now the blog has become a national thought leader in the liquor space and is entering that realm in the cannabis space.

 

Going Forward

I will guarantee to my readers that the quality of irishliquorlawyer.com will always be high and I will always work to raise our standards. My readers deserve nothing less.

The liquor world is changing radically and legal developments are unfolding each year. I can think of off the top of my head, 5 major areas of liquor law that could change due to legal developments in the coming year.

With this changing world, irishliquorlawyer.com will be a national thought leader on change within the liquor world.

Finally, thank you all, I strive to give you the best, anyone can tell you what happened, I strive to tell you what it means.

Thank you for a great first year, and stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

 

Sean O’Leary, The Irish Liquor Lawyer