Legislative, Government Affairs & Legal Updates

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.

For the second time, New Jersey craft breweries are a signature away from having a stringent set of restrictions on their taproom operations removed.

Both houses of the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 4265 and Assembly Bill 5912, which would allow craft breweries to host “an unlimited number of on-premises special events and private parties.”

Overall beer ordering contracted again in December after spending one month in expansion territory, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI).

From lawsuits against major distributors to celebrity breakups, it’s been a year of high profile BevAlc legal disputes. But what are the most important 2023 cases that lawyers are tracking into the next year and how might they impact the industry? Here are the big three.

The fallout surrounding the conservative-led boycott of Anheuser-Busch’s (A-B) Bud Light brand and the accelerated declines that ensued accounted for three of Brewbound’s top stories of 2023. The internal machinations at A-B, including a reshuffling of its craft division, also piqued Brewbound readers’ interests. As we close out the year, here’s a look back at the 10 most-read stories of 2023.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Retail Services & Systems, Inc., parent company of national bev-alc retailer Total Wine & More, have finalized a settlement in their dispute over the chain’s participation in the FTC’s investigation of one of its distributor partners.

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.