U.S liquor laws

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:51 am

It seems that Ontario is not the only jurisdiction with restrictive liquor laws.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/ ... ought.html

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:17 am

Ontario seems to be an agglomeration of the worst of those US laws - with the exception of Florida's 64 oz growler ban

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:38 am

“regulatory capture.”

=TBS

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 12:55 pm

The US definitely has some weird laws, and the distribution system hangs over their heads like our retail system does. At the Craft Brewers Conference basically all business-related panels end up talking about distribution, just as ones that we would have here would end up talking about LCBO/TBS.

However, the reality is that for most beer-friendly states in the US, most weird or quirky rules are not as obviously visible to consumers like ours are.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 2:55 pm

The other thing too is it seems in the US you have some options if you want to make changes. I was in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago and while I was there I was reading up on their messed up laws. Basically what the deal was, was that distributors could sell cases of beer. If you wanted a 6 pack you would basically buy beer to go from a bar or restaurant. My understanding of the situation is that the grocery store Wegman's basically said that their hot food deli area, basically was a restaurant so they filed a lawsuit to allow them to have a licence to sell beer. And it worked.

But can you imagine here a bar or store owner filing a lawsuit because they want to be able to sell beer the same way the beer store does. Not sure I could see it ever happening.