Industry, Legislative, Government Affairs & Legal Updates
Stay informed on the latest beer industry, legislative, government affairs and legal news, including updates on the Brewers Association and NBWA. Understand the evolving beverage alcohol regulatory and legal environment that can directly impact your distribution, retail efforts, intellectual property, packaging and ingredients.
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Craft beer has entered “no to negative growth territory,” Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson said during a year-end webinar last week. “We were in double-digit growth as recently as 2014, 2015, and then we moved into kind of a more developed, slow, single-digit growth rate,” Watson said. “COVID hit, and we had the worst year in craft history in 2020 with a partial bounce back in 2021.
This year will be the first, other than 2020, in which independent breweries’ volume has declined in the modern era of craft beer, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) 2023 Year in Beer report.
Incoming National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) chairman Jim Fabianao II stressed that distributors “must control our own destiny,” in his first speech during Tuesday’s Annual Convention general session in Las Vegas.
Fighting back against anti-alcohol messaging and rediscovering industry optimism following a year of flat spirit sales were two of the major themes at the annual Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) conference in San Diego last week.
A controversial Tennessee bill to ban the sale of cold beer has been withdrawn. A bill to permit time-bound price discounts on alcohol beverages at on-premise retailers has passed both houses of the Indiana Legislature.
The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the U.K.’s communications regulator, has dismissed a complaint from Brewdog and CEO James Watt against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which claimed the BBC treated and portrayed Watt and his company “unjustly or unfairly” in a 2022 expose, BBC reported.
Leah Cheston, owner of Washington, D.C.-based Right Proper Brewing, has been named chairwoman of the Brewers Association (BA) board of directors for 2024. Cheston is the second woman to hold the title, following New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan’s 2005-2007 term.
A lawsuit filed by Boston Beer against a former employee alleging that he violated a non-compete agreement by working for a competitor has been dismissed. The complaint was “dismissed with prejudice as to as to all claims against Brian Soudant, without costs and fees and without right of appeal,” according to a document filed February 9 in the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County.
Two former sales representatives have challenged Boston Beer’s non-compete clause in separate lawsuits in U.S. District Court, with one calling the policy “unreasonable, unconscionable and unenforceable under Massachusetts law.”
The three-year legal battle between Sheehan family members appears to be coming to a resolution as a deal to “consolidate ownership” of the multi-state distributor under four of Gerald “Jerry” Sheehan’s sons has been reached.
Edward Teach Brewing (ETB) has filed a pair of lawsuits connected to a Facebook post that the Wilmington, North Carolina-based craft brewery claims defames it and its owner Gary Sholar.
For decades, the Japanese distilled beverage shochu has been mislabeled in the U.S. as Korean soju, but a new law is clearing up the difference for consumers— and clearing a path for category growth.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a bill that will ease strict restrictions on the way craft breweries in the state can operate their taprooms.
With the pandemic-induced rise of ready-to-drink cocktails and e-commerce, bev-alc federal agencies and state legislators have been catching up to an industry with increasingly blurred category lines and tiers. As 2024 revs up we chatted with bev-alc attorneys about what regulations have been hot topics amongst suppliers in the last year and what updates the industry is anxiously awaiting.
A former server has filed a lawsuit against Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) alleging the craft brewery platform violated federal and state labor laws by undercompensating tipped employees and requiring them to do untipped and unpaid tasks, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.