Brewery Law Considerations

As referenced in the original post about our location search, the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933 and left the regulation of alcohol to the individual states. The laws that are in place as a result of this decision were an important consideration for us when we began researching potential locations. The most important legal issues to take into account when considering opening a brewery are related to sales and distribution. Amazingly enough, neo-Prohibitionist sentiment is still alive and well today; most alcohol laws are anachronistic and change has been moving at a snail’s pace.

In 2011, New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, CO), Oskar Blues Brewing Company (Lyons, CO) and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (Chico, CA) all announced plans for new East Coast facilities in order to reduce the environmental impact and the cost of shipping beer across the country. Multiple states responded to the RFPs, but, in the end, all three major breweries ended up selecting North Carol

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