The federal TTB issued its first 2016 ruling (2016-1) announcing its efforts to identify non-compliance with tied house rules prohibiting breweries, w...
Tip for writing your alternation plan
Federal law requires that proprietor (business/license) must have operational control of the shared (“alternating”) portion of the premises each c...
Do I need a separate entrance for an alternating proprietorship?
No. Ideally, there are separate entrances but this is not strictly required by the TTB. It is important to remember that state ABC boards may still re...
Can wine and liquor stores give away free alcohol in holiday promotions?
The Authority has confirmed that a holiday promotion such as “Buy 2 bottles, get a 3rd free” is compliant with ABC laws. Similarly a BOGO offer on...
5 Things you may not know about NY branch offices of farm breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries
New York ABC law allows farm alcoholic beverage producers to have branch offices. The branch office does require an application and approval by the St...
Case Study (and YES, it’s a true story)
When it lost its lease and was forced to move to a new location, a local bar prepared and filed its own removal application with the State Liquor Auth...
Tasting of Spirits
When offering tastings of spirits, each patron is limited to three 0.25 oz tastings in a calendar day and each of the samples cannot have anything add...
Handwritten craft beverage labels
A new craft beverage producer produced two varieties of hard cider. It wondered if the State Liquor Authority would accept a label that had preprinted...
Tied house rules
Tied house rules prevent any person from having a direct or indirect interest in both a wholesale and a retail business involving alcohol. For example...
Recordkeeping requirements for liquor and wine stores
I was counselling a new liquor store owner about some of the rules that they needed to be aware of as they launch the new business. One of the issues ...