Is direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) shipping for distilled spirits coming to New York? A bill has been introduced that would allow just that. The bill would allow both in-state distilleries to deliver to New Yorkers, similar to the temporary privileges during COVID, and out-of-state distilleries to deliver to New Yorkers (after obtaining a license). The bill would allow consumers to receive up to 36 (9-liter) cases per year. Various shipping and other requirements are also covered in the bill. See the full text here: AB 3844 and AB 3132/SB 2852.    

The New York State Liquor Authority released an advisory in December of 2022 regarding BYOB (bring your own booze) and guidance on alcoholic beverages that are served free of charge. In accordance with the Advisory, a permit or license is needed in order to bring their own alcoholic beverages if the premise has more than a twenty person occupancy or if the premise is operating “for pecuniary gain”. For example, if the you must buy a ticket in order to enter this is “for pecuniary gain”. As for providing alcoholic beverages to consumers free of cost, for instance, everybody (of legal drinking age) who attends an art gallery exhibition may get a glass of champagne if there is no fee to enter or any requirement to purchase.  If you must pay an entrance fee in order to obtain the glass of alcohol, it is considered a sale of alcohol. The premise must also require a permit or license if their premise has an occupancy of 20 or more. For example, a license or permit would be required if the art gallery in the previous case was giving away alcoholic beverages but had 20 or more guests.  

Did you know that TTB is seeking public opinion on potential changes to a number of TTB regulations? For instance, TTB is seeking the public opinion in regards to the TTB’s practice regulations in response to Executive Order 14036 (“Promoting Competition in the American Economy”), and in response to a related report issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Competition in the Markets for Beer, Wine, and Spirits”). TTB is recommending changing its rules to permit some wines bearing a single-State American viticultural area (AVA) as an appellation of origin to be completely finished in a neighboring State. TTB is putting up this proposal in response to input from the general public on a prior rulemaking. With this idea, more participants of the industry would be able to designate an AVA as the appellation of origin on their wine labels. AVA names are optionally used on wine labels. TTB  is also proposing changes to its wine labeling standards by adding several additional names to the list of grape variety names authorized for use in labelling American wines in response to petitions received from members of the wine industry. For more, click here.