Beverage Legislation | Read Time: 2 minutes

Anxious About Federal Excise Taxes…Again

The end of the federal Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) on December 31, 2020 would mean big excise tax increases for small manufacturers. What is the CBMTRA and Where is It Going? The CBMTRA was passed along with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The federal law made changes to the US Tax Code...

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ABT | Read Time: 2 minutes

Florida’s Three Tier System: Statutory Foundations

The Separation of Tiers In the aftermath of the Repeal of Prohibition, most states adopted some form of the Three Tier System. Generally, the Three Tier System is intended to regulate the alcoholic beverage industry by separating manufacturers and importers (First Tier), distributors and wholesalers (Second Tier), and retail vendors (Third Tier). Florida has a strong Three Tier System....

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ABT | Read Time: 5 minutes

What Burger King Tells Us About Florida’s Three Tier System

The Florida ABT’s 2012 Declaratory Statement In re BK Whopper Bar, LLC tells us how the ABT thinks about the present separation of alcoholic beverage manufacturers, distributors, and vendors. BK Whopper Bar Asked and the ABT Answered In 2011, BK Whopper Bar, LLC and Burger King Corporation asked the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (ABT) to issue...

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ABT | Read Time: < 1 minute

Florida DBPR’s FAQ for Executive Order 20-68

Florida Division of Business and Professional Regulations (DBPR) has provided the following FAQ related to Restaurants, Bars and Nightclubs for compliance with Governor DeSantis’ emergency order in response to Covid-19. Good news for breweries and wineries–and those that support them: carry-out orders are permitted. This applies to packaged products, including growlers and crowlers.

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Beverage Legislation | Read Time: 3 minutes

Florida Distilleries Cannot Sell All of Their Products in the Gift Shop (Yet)

The laws concerning craft distilleries was updated in 2021. As a result, this blog post no longer reflects current Florida law. For the latest, see: 2021 FLORIDA CRAFT DISTILLERIES LAW: GENERAL OVERVIEW. Florida craft distilleries are allowed to sell their own distilled products in their gift shops. However, this does not include the products a craft distillery makes by...

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Beverage Legislation | Read Time: 3 minutes

Florida Beverage Legislation: 2019 Post-Session Review of Beverage Bills

Zero out of 9. All 2019 Florida beverage bills fell flat. Nine beverage-focused  bills were introduced at the start of the 2019 Florida legislative session. All nine died in committee (or didn’t even get that far). Despite the possibility of some sweeping changes, especially for Florida breweries and distilleries, the Florida Beverage Laws will remain unchanged this year. For...

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