Brewery Law ❘ A Beer Law Blog from a Beer Lawyer

Legal commentary on alcoholic beverage law

Microbrew Heavyweight Goose Island Sold to Anheuser-Busch

Well, this ought to put a bad taste in some people’s mouths. One of the best and brightest in US microbrew has been sold to Anheuser-Busch (A-B). The world leader in beer will take over the brewing operations, but the two Chicago micropubs will remain held by the brand’s original owners. A-B purchased a 58% [...]

I-1100 Fails: Is This The End of Deregulation Talk?

Well, its over. Both of the private liquor initiatives have failed to win the hearts of Washington voters. Even though there are still some votes to count, the battle is over. But why did voters not embrace this initiative? This year the elections were charged by an eagerness to reduce taxes and eliminate the government [...]

Alaskan Brewing Cancels Washington Distributorship, Loses Big in Arbitration

Alaskan Brewing Co. is the subject of an interesting Washington Court of Appeals opinion, which was handed down today. The opinion is unpublished and provides little to nothing in the way of new legal precedent, but it provides an intriguing look at the Washington distributorship law. Alaska Distributors Company (ADCO) was the exclusive distributor of [...]

Proposed Federal Legislation Could Stop Interstate Beer Sales

There was an interesting piece published in Mutineer Magazine yesterday about the a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would give states more authority to regulate alcohol. Purportedly, the bill would potentially block the interstate sales of beer and wine. This would put an end to out of state ordering of beer and [...]

Modernize Washington: Seattle Public Interest Group Takes Aim at Washington Liquor Monopoly

The recent initiative to privatize liquor sales in the State of Washington is picking up steam. Though this is not about beer, there are many in the beer industry who are probably interested in a major change in alcoholic beverage regulation in our fine state. Initiative 1100 is the proposed legislation. The group behind this [...]