UPDATED – Guest Column- A Different View of Some Alcohol Industry Statistics

Update: Recently the Brewers Association updated its private count of breweries.   According to BA records, it noted that there are 2,822 breweries of which they count 2,768 as “craft” breweries.    However, 45% of these craft breweries are actually brewpubs and are more like restaurants in many ways.  Likewise only 119 breweries (4%) are larger than 15,000…Read More

Guest Column – Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the 21st Amendment

  By: Brannon P. Denning, Center for Alcohol Policy Advisory Council member and professor at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law   Each year the Center for Alcohol Policy sponsors an essay contest to foster debate, analysis, and examination of state alcohol regulation and its implications for citizens across the United States. The topic for…Read More

Federal Judge Signs Final Judgment Resolving ABI-Modelo Antitrust Concerns

A federal judge signed the final judgment in the ABI-Modelo deal concluding the United States’ lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch InBev and Grupo Modelo.  This case is now complete subject to conditions and monitoring provisions.  You can read the final judgment here.  Also, here is an article from the Courthouse News Service. (earlier post) Justice Department Files Tunney…Read More

New Alcohol Litigation in Arkansas Challenging Retail Licensing

An Arkansas resident has brought suit against the state after he was denied a liquor store permit due to state mandated limit on liquor stores in his county.  The plaintiff challenged the liquor store restriction stating that it violates the commerce clause and “substantially interferes with interstate commerce.”  Here is the amended complaint, brief in…Read More

Fourth Circuit Court Declares Virginia Ban on Alcohol Ads in College Newspapers Unconstitutional

The University of Virginia and Virginia Tech’s college newspapers The Cavalier Daily and The Collegiate Times challenged the Virginia ABC’s ban on alcohol advertisements in college papers as a violation of First Amendment rights, and a panel of the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals agreed.  The Federal Court reversed the District Court’s conclusion that…Read More