Wine Labeling Getting Harder and Easier at the Same Time
The TTB, the federal bureau charged with regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages, is considering defining some words often used on wine labels. The regulators are wondering whether to require strict...
View ArticleWhen the Only Ally You Have Is Someone You Don’t Much Like
Michael Johnson, a lobbyist for beer wholesalers, writes a completely self-serving column designed to calm those concerned about HR 1161, widely touted as a bill to outlaw direct shipping of wine. Mr....
View ArticlePennsylvania Wine Kiosks Remain Dead, Get Closer to Burial
If you’re like me, you’re mildly entertained by the folly that is Pennsylvania’s wine kiosk program. That program, which uses a Rube Goldberg-designed system of pulleys and startled pigeons to...
View ArticleGentlemen, Start Your Lawyers
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission issued a press release a couple of days ago: Texas law requires that anyone selling alcoholic beverages in the state must hold a TABC license or permit…TABC has...
View ArticleWell, It Looks Like I’m Going to Have to Find Some New Material
The hilarious Pennsylvania Wine Kiosk Experiment (complete history here) has finally reached its destiny, devolving into a round of mutually destructive lawsuits between the state Liquor Control Board...
View ArticleThe Long History of Widely Ignored Wine Regulation
Lindsey Zahn at On Reserve traces wine regulation back to the First Century A.D., when Roman Emperor Domitian banned the planting of new vineyard in what is now Italy and ordered half the vineyards in...
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Racism and Alcohol Regulation
Oklahoma is considering allowing “strong beer” and wine to be sold in grocery stores. Lobbying against the change is a contradictory but familiar coalition of neo-prohibitionists and liquor store...
View ArticleLies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
There’s a serious political battle going on in Washington state over state-owned liquor stores. One one side, we have big money flowing in from D.C.-based wholesaler groups who want nothing ever to...
View ArticleAs Always, Keep New Jersey In Your Prayers
The New Jersey State Assembly is scheduled to vote today on a direct shipping bill. If it passes, New Jersey will be the 39th state to allow direct shipping.
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The Situation In New Jersey
New Jersey’s legislature passed a direct shipping law yesterday that gets the state out of dutch with the Supreme Court. To which I say: thank goodness. I was worried Scalia was going to have to go up...
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