Category: Licensing/Regulations
9:00PM “Curfew” Announced for Some Maine Businesses During Thanksgiving Week
Starting tomorrow, Friday, November 19, certain Maine businesses will be required to close their doors at 9:00PM each day, through Sunday, December 6. With increasing numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and holiday gatherings expected throughout the state, the Mills Administration announces this and other public and safety measures in...
Bars and Tasting Rooms in Maine Remain Closed Until Further Notice as Number of COVID-19 Cases Increase
COVID-19 cases are on the rise both in Maine and across the nation. In a previous blog post , we shared that bars were set to open in Maine today, Monday, November 2. Unfortunately, due to the significant increases in the number of positive COVID-19 cases, over the weekend...
What You Need to Know Before Opening Your Outdoor Tasting Room
As part of Maine’s phased reopening of its economy, breweries, distilleries, and wineries without restaurant licenses were deemed bars. As a result, in guidance issued by Maine’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations (BABLO) on May 14, 2020, breweries were prohibited from opening their tasting room until July...
Hand Sanitizer Relief for Distilled Spirits Extension
On May 18, 2020, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau issued Public Guidance TTB G 2020-4 regarding the Tax-Free Withdrawal of Distilled Spirits and Products Containing Distilled Spirits for Hand Sanitizer Purposes under the CARES Act and TTB Guidance . Through this Guidance, the TTB addressed tax...
BABLO Issues Guidance on Reopening
On May 14, 2020, the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations (BABLO) issued a memorandum providing guidance for which licensees will be considered a “restaurant” and which will be considered a “bar” under the Stay Safer at Home Executive Order. We highly recommend reading the entire memorandum to...
Distilled Spirits Permittees: What You Need to Know About Producing Hand Sanitizer
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a great deal of uncertainty for businesses and people around the world. Many have been scrambling to find supplies, from toilet paper to hand sanitizer, and additional retail locations are temporarily closing their doors each day. Recognizing that hand sanitizer is crucial...
Join Us at The 2019 New England Craft Brew Summit
Join us this Friday, March 1, at the 2019 New England Craft Brew Summit at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland, Maine. The premier regional, craft beer industry business-to-business conference will be jam-packed with seminars on a variety of topics geared towards business operations, technical brewing and...
Government Shutdown Impacts Breweries
Planning to brew something that needs a formula approval or a COLA approval? Have a new facility in the works? If so, you might want to reconfigure your schedule because the government shutdown has caused the TTB to suspend many of its functions . While you can still access...
The TTB is Watching – Beverage Community Asked to Self-Report Violations
As the TTB enters a more user-friendly phase with its updated online registration portal, it is important to remember that it remains an enforcement arm of the federal government for the beverage alcohol community. In a somewhat ominous circular, the TTB requested that "each industry member review its promotional...
Cause Marketing For Craft Brewers (You Can Do Good, But Don't Let Your Promotion Go Bad)
"Buy our beer and we'll donate $1 to charity." The ultimate "doing well by doing good." Many large beer brands see the marketing advantage of asking consumers to buy their product in return for the brand's donation to charity. For example, since 2011, Corona has donated a portion of...
TTB Expands Allowable Changes to Labels without Resubmission, but Reminds us that One Label "Does Not (Necessarily) Fit All"
Certificate of Label Approval (or COLA) can be one of the more frustrating processes for brewers. Each label must be approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Once the COLA is issued, only certain, limited changes can be made to the label without resubmitting it...
Opening Day Edition: Beer Advertising and Sports
Today (March 29) is baseball's opening day and beer and baseball are in the news. The New York Yankees appear to be in trouble for their new " Pinstripe Pilsner " which has an image of your favorite Yankee player in the foam. But those of you wanting to...
A Different Kind of Bud: Cannabis in the Alcoholic Beverage Industry
Last week, on March 22, 2018, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission issued an Advisory on cannabis in alcoholic beverages. Here is a copy of the Cannabis in Alcohol Advisory . While retail sales of cannabis are expected to be lawful under Massachusetts law (while still an...
It’s Only “Natural:” Avoiding the Risk of Consumer Lawsuits Over Food Labels
Americans are increasingly sensitive to the ingredients that go into the food that we eat. Recently, Congress passed a law requiring manufacturers to label or place QR codes on products containing or made from genetically modified organisms ("GMOs"). Now, consumer advocates have turned their attention to food products bearing...
Out of the (Maine Beer) Box: Standing Out in a Global Marketplace
After traveling to Iceland with more than a dozen of Maine's brewers to greet the Maine Beer Box at the Bjorfestival in Reykijavik, Verrill Dana Attorney Tawny Alvarez reflected on the importance of standing out in a global marketplace in an article for the Craft Brand & Marketing Magazine...
Tips on Tap for Breweries on the Journey from Passion to Profit
As the number of craft breweries across the country continues to grow, Verrill Dana's Breweries, Distilleries & Wineries Group presents Tap Tips Podcast Miniseries to help brewers on the journey from passion to profit. The miniseries contains eight episodes to assist up-and-coming brewmasters and brewery owners to think critically...
No New COLA Required to Add Brewers Association’s Independent Craft Brewer Seal to Labels
The Brewers Association (BA) recently launched a seal to certify that a craft brewer is independent. This seal is, at least in part, in response to the global beer monoliths buying up formerly independent craft brewers as the large brewers' share of the market started to shrink. With more...
Labels – It’s Not just the TTB that’s watching
As purveyors of beverages containing alcohol, most craft brewers, distillers and wineries are aware of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax And Trade Bureau ("TTB") rules for labels, and the sometimes onerous task involved in getting those labels approved. To avoid extra expenses and delays, those who are not aware...
I Wine, You Wine, We all Wine for Ice Cream . . . But Not in Massachusetts
Late last month, Massachusetts's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission issued an advisory entitled "Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission ("ABCC") Advisory to § 18 Wholesalers/Importers and § 19 Manufacturers Regarding Alcohol-Infused Ice Cream." The Advisory notes that Massachusetts General Law chapter 138 prohibits the importation, manufacturing, and sale of ice cream that...
Age May Be Good For Wine . . . But Antiquated Liquor Laws Are Helping No One
To say that alcohol laws are antiquated is an understatement, but there's only one thing we can do about it—go to our legislators and change them. That is exactly what Massachusetts business-owners are doing. On Tuesday, two modest changes to Massachusetts alcohol laws were presented to the House of...
Portland to Beer Drinkers: Get Your Snack On
Now that's what we're talkin bout . Reversing one of the worst decisions of all time , officials in beer Mecca Portland, Maine , (known principally as the home to this humble blog), will now allow breweries located in the City's industrial zones to sell prepackaged food at their...
You + TTB 2015-1= Happiness! New Ruling from TTB Lessens Burden of Seeking Formula Approval
Good news! The TTB has expanded the universe of ingredients added to malt beverages that no longer require a brewer to file a Formula Approval before obtaining a COLA. As anyone who has tried to add some creative ingredients (or, in reality, pretty much anything that wasn't hops) to...
