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.
Submit Legislative News
If you have insights into recent regulatory or legislative news related to the beer or beverage-alcohol industry, please submit your news to your team.
Anyone looking for an answer to when craft’s current era of compounding hurdles and declines will come to an end received a reality check Wednesday during Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson’s state of the industry address, held at the start of Day 2 of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Indianapolis.
Around 10,000 industry members are expected to make the trip to Indianapolis for the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (April 28 to May 1). The gathering takes place against a backdrop of growing headwinds for craft breweries and an overhaul of CBC’s host organization, the Brewers Association.
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) has consistently charged independent retailers as much as 12% to 67% more than national and regional chains for the same products, according to newly unsealed redactions in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) price discrimination case against the distributor.
The Brewers Association has announced a second round of layoffs, cutting 17% of its workforce, the national trade group confirmed to Brewbound. The layoff amounted to nine additional employees of the BA, including one of its most recognizable faces and advocates for small and independent U.S. craft brewers: Julia Herz.
The California Department of Public Health has rescinded a requirement that alcoholic beverages must be served with a meal, according to an industry advisory issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Michigan legislators are considering a bill that would extend indefinitely delivery sales of alcoholic beverages for bars and restaurants and create “social districts” in which consumers would be able to drink beer, wine or spirits in a common area outside the walls or designated patio spaces of licensed establishments, according to MLive.com.
A bill with changes to the restrictions on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans has landed on President Donald Trump’s desk after passing the Senate on Thursday, June 4.
More than 80% of craft breweries said they have received funding through the Paycheck Protection Program, and those loans are making many of them more confident about the future, according to the Brewers Association’ (BA) latest survey of how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting those businesses.
More than half of the top 50 Brewers Association-defined craft brewing companies posted volume growth in 2019, according to data published in the May/June edition of the not-for-profit trade group’s New Brewer magazine.
Iconic Portland, Maine craft brewery Allagash returns to Florida for a limited time; Carlsberg and Marston’s announce proposed JV; April domestic tax paid Shipments decline 4.9%; judge approves bid for bankrupt Craftworks; and more headlines from the week.
The largest beer festival in the U.S. will not take place in-person in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. For the first time in the festival’s nearly 40-year history, the Brewers Association (BA) has canceled the 2020 edition of Great American Beer Festival, which was slated to take place September 24-26, and will instead move the event “to an immersive online experience” from October 16-17.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered nearly every facet of life and commerce, but one particular area stands to be gutted more than almost any other: large scale events. In the beer industry alone, event casualties are numerous, as the Brewers Association has now canceled three of its marquee events.
Dr. Anthony Fauci today cautioned against reopening businesses and other public gathering spaces before states meet guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An investigation by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) found that third-party delivery services are “routinely delivering alcoholic beverages to minors,” according to an industry advisory posted by the regulatory agency.
Craft beer purchase intent among wholesalers has hit an all-time low, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). Nielsen CGA found the number of checks at tracked accounts in the week ending April 25 increased 69% over the week ending March 28.
More than a year after it began, a federal circuit judge ruled that Anheuser-Busch InBev is free to continue its advertising campaign calling out the use of corn syrup in Molson Coors Beverage Company’s flagship light lagers.
As states grapple with reopening for business in face of the COVID-19 pandemic, one Maine brewpub owner opted to defy the reopening plan Gov. Janet Mills laid out last week that orders restaurants to remain shut for on-premise dining until June.
The near-nationwide shutdown of the on-premise channel will result in a loss of $8 billion for the beer industry if it continues into June, National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist Lester Jones said during a State of the Industry webinar hosted by the NBWA and the Beer Institute (BI).
