A love for collaborations–“collabs”–is among the (many?) things that hip hop artists and craft alcohol manufacturers share in common. In both cases, the final product often appears to be a spontaneous creation of free-flowing, shared artistry. The reality is–or at least should be–a carefully plotted and executed navigation of fundamental questions about ownership, commercialization, and distribution. Whether a record...
Continue ReadingThe Florida Beverage Law and related regulations contain no specific requirements concerning restrictive territories or any other contractual terms concerning wine and distilled spirit products. For beer and malt beverage products, however, the Florida Beverage Law, requires exclusive sales territories for beer and malt beverage products (collectively referred to here as “beer”). Since 1988, beer may be sold by...
Continue ReadingSometimes an alcoholic beverage brand developer wants to focus on developing and promoting a product brand and leave the manufacturing to someone else (sometimes called “white labeling”). This can mean good business for the manufacturer too. Whether the product is classified a beer, wine, or distilled spirits, a variety of contract manufacturing arrangements are available in Florida. This article...
Continue ReadingIn Florida, it’s common for beer suppliers and distributors alike to speak in terms of the appointment of a supplier’s exclusive distributor. This is not technically accurate in the context of the Florida Beverage Laws. A beer supplier is not required to appoint an exclusive distributor for itself in Florida. Rather, a supplier is required by Florida law to...
Continue ReadingCraft beer festivals are tremendously popular in Florida. The multiplication of beer festivals throughout the state has caused the state’s principal regulator of alcoholic beverages–the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (the ABT)–to take a closer look at how beer festivals are operated. Like all activities involving alcohol beverages, Florida beer festivals are subject to a confusing web...
Continue ReadingThere are only so many hoppy, reserve, barrel-aged names to go around. This means that more and more otherwise happy, brotherly-loving brewers, vintners and distillers are taking aim at each other over company names and product names that may or may not be infringing on one another. Before deciding your next beer MUST be named Brewers’Law Lager, or whatever,...
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