September is National Service Dog Month! As we celebrate and commemorate these incredible animals and their teams this month, it is important to think beyond the fluffy-tailed cuteness to have a discussion regarding some of the everyday realities that service animal teams experience, and how this impacts your alcoholic beverage business. What Do Service Animals…
We’re getting a lot of questions about the differences between Private Bars and Private Clubs in NC. That means it’s time to blog about it! Background NC has had the Private Club designation for Retail alcohol sales permits for a long time. But, the NC Legislature recently made a change. The 2019 legislative session saw…
Managing your business during a crisis is never easy. The difficulty is compounded when the crisis is in your business AND all around you. Right now, as business owners and managers, you’re facing tough decisions about your staff and your business while staring down the barrel of uncertainty.
Our readers might remember a BLC blog post on Groovy Guy Gifts (check it out here). Groovy Groomsmen Gifts (a subsection of Groovy Guy Gifts) reached out to me again to test one of their products. I picked the Ace of Case which is a leather travel kit. The travel kit was the perfect gift…
Information for this article can be found here. Below are some common questions regarding alcohol labels and the ubiquitous term “organic.” This information is provided by the TTB. Q: What does an organic claim mean? A: Either organically produced, contains organic ingredients, or was processed in an organic manner or facility that abides by USDA…
You may have heard that a woman was arrested for driving under the influence of vanilla extract (see news article here). How did this happen?! To read more about DUIs, check out Matheson & Associates’s blog post. Probably one of the most head scratching details of this article was that vanilla extract contains 35% alcohol!…
A lot of buzz has been devoted to producing beer with hemp seeds and hemp generally. So much traction that the plethora of articles on the Internet suggest that this is a new category of beer. Actually, the first commercially available hemp-brewed beer came from Frederick Brewing Company in 1997. Recently, more breweries across the…
*Please keep in mind that this is information is specific to North Carolina law. Contact an attorney in your state to find out specific information about this. *This information is provided by the NC Craft Brewers Guild. Read the original article here. The information for this blog is found on Brewer Advisory: Legislature Passes ABC…
*Please keep in mind that this is information is specific to North Carolina law. Contact an attorney in your state to find out specific information about this. House Bill 500 (HB 500) from the North Carolina General Assembly has been presented to Governor Roy Cooper for his signature. The Bill contains several changes to ABC…
*Information for this blog post is provided by Lehrman Beverage Law. If you have tried to register a trademark you may have come across words like ‘generic,’ ‘descriptive,’ ‘arbitrary,’ or ‘fanciful’ just to name a few. Someone (maybe a lawyer?) might have told you to trademark a fanciful name and not a generic name. What…
*The information for this blog post can be viewed here. Information viewed here also supports this blog. Once your label receives TTB approval, you can change certain items on your label without submitting a new COLA label. Any changes you make to your label must be in compliance with federal regulations. You CAN: Delete non-mandatory…
*Please keep in mind that this is information is specific to North Carolina law. Contact an attorney in your state to find out specific information about this. *This information is provided by the NC Craft Brewers Guild. Read the original article here. Did you know that there are new FDA (Food and Drug Administration) labeling…
*Please keep in mind that this is information is specific to North Carolina law. Contact an attorney in your state to find out specific information about this. *This information is provided by the NC Craft Brewers Guild. Read the original article here. North Carolina now allows breweries and distilleries to be featured on highway road…
*Please keep in mind that this is information is specific to North Carolina law. Contact an attorney in your state to find out specific information about this. *This information is provided by the NC Craft Brewers Guild. Read the original article here. As many of you know, if you have an On-Premise Malt Beverage permit…
How to Start: *the Internet hosts a plethora of valuable resources on starting a winery. Specifically, Cornell University has a detailed mock business plan guide that can be found here. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Science produced a basic outline of the pertinent steps to take if/when you want to open…
Everything you need to know and probably more than you want to know about kombucha. I admit, I don’t think we have a client that produces kombucha. But, there must be a brewer out there who wants to know more about kombucha. Here you go: What is kombucha? Kombucha refers to a fermented beverage produced…
For this blog post I want to talk about two forms that are pretty standard for a TTB application, regardless of whether or not you’re a distillery or brewery. The forms are the Power of Attorney form and the Signing Authority form-both of which are linked below. What are the Power of Attorney and Signing…
When you apply for your NC ABC permits you need to submit a Recycling Compliance form. We know that recycling is not the sexist or most titillating of reads, but hopefully some of you will find this information helpful. The information for this blog can be found here. Why do I have to recycle? All…
This week’s blog post might be a real downer to some of you who look forward to happy hour. *North Carolina does NOT allow happy hour for alcohol. Eating establishments can offer happy hour for food only. See ABC Rule 2S.0232 (b). The ABC Commission has compiled “Happy Hours FAQs” that sheds some light on…
Breweries want to advertise their products and their beer. There is a correct way to advertise products and a-not-so-legal way to promote your business and beer. Check out the FAQs surrounding advertising. A PDF was created by the NC ABC. Can I place a dry erase board outside my business to advertise beer or wine…