Cheers! Booze delivery, wine shipments begin in Alabama
Alabamians can now get limited quantities of beer, wine, and spirits delivered to their homes after the first companies have gotten licensed. Alabama lawmakers this year approved separate bills to allow alcohol deliveries from retailers to a person’s home and to allow wineries to ship directly to consumers in the state. Several companies have gotten licensed to deliver alcoholic beverages or to ship wine, according to the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The ABC Licensing Division has several other pending applications for both alcohol delivery and wine shipment, spokesman Daniel Dye wrote in an email. As of Monday, four companies have so far gotten licensed to deliver alcoholic beverages. Those companies are Shipt, Dippi, Pick Up My Things, and Deerfoot Spirits. Five companies have gotten licensed to ship wine directly to consumers in Alabama. Those companies are Penrose Hill Winery, James Cole Winery, Winecub, Truth Teller, and Robert Young. Alcohol delivery may not yet be available everywhere as companies ramp up operations. Shipt announced last week that it is doing same-day delivery of beer and wine from Target. The company said it is working to expand delivery from additional retailers. “We’re thrilled to bring alcohol delivery to Shipt’s home state just in time for the holiday season,” Rina Hurst, chief business officer for Shipt, said in a press release. Lawmakers approved the wine shipment bill after years of debate. One year, legislators set up a study commission to research the issues of wine delivery after the measure could not win passage.
Surging coronavirus cases leads to reauthorizing curbside alcohol sales
With coronavirus cases surging to nearly 400,000 cases and 4,100 deaths, the state of Alabama is enacting more measures to help slow the spread. The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has approved to amend an original statewide order to temporarily authorize emergency curbside alcohol sales. The board held an emergency meeting Monday to reinstate the order, and the measure passed unanimously, extending it until January 4. On March 24, as the coronavirus began to spread nationwide, the Alabama ABC Board passed an amendment to the emergency curbside sales authorization, reported Al.com. The original authorization expired on September 15. The decision to not extend the order at that time came as Alabama started reopening restaurants and bars. According to an email in September to Al.com, Dean Argo, Government Relations Manager of the Alabama ABC Board stated, “At this time, there are no plans to extend that order.” The amendment would allow on-premise licensees to again sell alcoholic beverages to go. Specifically, this would apply to selling sealed bottles. No more than one 375-milliliter bottle of spirits, two 750-milliliter bottles of wine, or 144 ounces of beer can be sold per customer, according to a CBS Report. “I think it’ll affect us pretty good. When they had it back in September, back when it started, it did pretty good,” stated restaurant owner Marco Perez. “A lot of customers like getting a margarita to go. It helped business a lot.” Perez owns Maya’s Restaurante Mexicano in Homewood. Jason Hutchins, general manager at Tuscaloosa restaurant Brick and Spoon is happy about the order. He told WBRC, “We saw a lot more folks stop by just to get drinks. We saw a huge spike in repeat orders at the tables when people were getting ready to go when they finished their meals. They said ‘We’ll have another mimosa to go.’” “We are extremely sensitive to the plight of our licensees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we will continue to make every attempt to help them remain open, financially viable, and safe,” stated ABC Board Administrator Mac Gipson. Governor Kay Ivey recently extended the Alabama Safer at Home order until January 22.
New law stops Alabama alcohol regulators from playing ‘big brother’
At the end of the legislative session, without fanfare or a press release, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that will protect the personal information of Alabama consumers for years to come. SB234, sponsored by Madison-Repubican Sen. Bill Holtzclaw rolls back an Orwellian rule adopted by the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board (ABC Board) last September requiring local breweries to record the names and addresses of buyers purchasing beer for off-premise consumption. “I appreciate Governor Ivey signing this bill into law. We need to protect the privacy of consumers in Alabama, and there is no reason in this instance for state government bureaucrats to step between a private citizen and the company he or she is doing business with,” Holtzclaw remarked. The regulations first came into effect following Holtzclaw successfully co-sponsoring legislation that took effect last summer allowing the state’s craft breweries to sell six packs, growlers, and large bottles of beer directly to consumers. In response, the ABC Board proposed the rule to collect the name, address, age, phone number, and date of birth from anyone who purchases beer at a brewery for off-premise consumption. While the initial proposed regulations were ultimately amended to collect only the names and addresses of buyers, Holtzclaw introduced SB234 to correct what he calls ABC’s “regulatory misstep.” “We have at least nineteen craft beer companies in the state now, and more are coming online soon. Each year, tens of thousands of Alabamians responsibly enjoy some of the best craft beer in America, brewed in places like Huntsville and Madison,” Holtzclaw continued. “Going forward, those customers can enjoy great beer from microbreweries across Alabama, without having to fork over personal information to fulfill a burdensome government regulation.” For tax purposes, existing law requires breweries to collect information from restaurant owners and gas station proprietors, who purchase from breweries in a manufacturing capacity. SB234 specifies that the business owners shall be deemed the wholesale and retail purchaser, and consumers purchases will now be considered traditional sales that don’t need to be reported.
Will Alabama alcohol regulators be the next ‘Big Brother’?
The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC Board) is poised to adopt a new rule that feels eerily like Big Brother — wanting to know exactly who is buying beer and taking it home to drink. More specifically, the ABC board is requiring breweries and brewpubs across the Yellowhammer State to collect the name, address, age, phone number, and date of birth from anyone who purchases beer at a brewery for off-premise consumption. The ABC board discussed the proposed Orwellian rule at a work session earlier this month and could vote on it at its meeting Sept. 28. The proposed rule follows a law that took effect this summer allowing the state’s craft breweries to sell six packs, growlers, and large bottles of beer directly to consumers. Prior to the bill’s passage, Alabama was the only state that banned such sales. Already, the law limits the to-consumer sales to 288 ounces (the equivalent of a standard case of 24 bottles of 12 ounce beers) per person per day. Which is where collecting consumer information comes in. In order to enforce the single-case restrictions, breweries and brew pubs would be required record the names, addresses, phone numbers and birth dates of customers, which they would have to report back to the ABC board each month. Industry groups are strongly opposed to the proposed regulation, which they say is an invasion of privacy, as well as a logistical nightmare to collect the information. Members of Free the Hops — a grassroots organization created in support of specialty, craft beer in Alabama — have spoken out, saying the new rule could infringe on consumer privacy. “As nonsensical as it might seem, this rule would essentially empower the ABC Board to come to an individual’s house to confirm his or her purchase of a six pack of beer,” Nick Hudson, president of Free the Hops said in a statement back in August. The Alabama Brewers Guild, composed of the state’s roughly two dozen breweries and brewpubs, said collecting the information would be an administrative nightmare and could pose concerns not just over privacy, but also about potential data breaches and governmental use of the information. “I’m honestly not sure they thought it out very well,” said Guild Executive Director Dan Roberts. While Alabama and other states require identification to prove the age of someone purchasing alcohol, Roberts said he knows of no other state that collects information about consumers.
Alabama ABC Board proposes new rule for beer drinkers
Alabama alcohol regulators want to know a little more about those Yellowhammer beer drinkers. The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is considering a new rule that would require breweries and brewpubs to collect the name, address, age, phone number and date of birth from anyone who purchases beer at a brewery for off-premise consumption. Members of Free the Hops — a grassroots organization created in support of specialty, craft beer in Alabama — are now speaking out, saying the new rule could infringe on consumer privacy. “As nonsensical as it might seem, this rule would essentially empower the ABC Board to come to an individual’s house to confirm his or her purchase of a six pack of beer,” Nick Hudson, president of Free the Hops said in a statement. “One can’t help but ask, why? The members of Free the Hops fully oppose this proposed rule. It represents an unprecedented, unnecessary, and overreaching invasion of privacy. It is something that unfairly targets beer consumers, but also, frankly, has frightening implications for everyone.” The proposed rule follows a law from House Bill 176, which took effect June 1. The law allows the state’s craft breweries to sell six packs, growlers and large bottles of beer directly to consumers. Prior to the bill’s passage, Alabama was the only state that banned such sales. The board is now seeking public comment on the regulations through Sept. 7. Interested persons may present their views in writing to the Administrative Procedures Secretary, Alabama ABC Board, 2715 Gunter Park Drive West, Montgomery, Alabama 36109, or via email at admin@abc.alabama.gov.
Angi Stalnaker: The myth of privatization of state-run liquor stores
It seems as though every few years, an idea takes hold that becomes the political issue fad of the Session. Such fad issues are championed by people who think the idea sounds good without delving into the consequences and facts behind the issue. This session, that issue is the privatization of ABC operated stores in Alabama. The problem with this and other tough issues is distinguishing the facts from the over-publicized myths. MYTH: Privatizing ABC stores and getting the state of Alabama out of the retail liquor business will save the state money. FACT: The ABC Board is actually one of the only agencies that generates money for the state’s ailing general fund budget. By eliminating revenue generated by the ABC-operated stores, the general fund will suffer. An analysis of other states that have divested their retail liquor operations have shown a negative economic result to their general fund if the revenue was not replaced by a tax increase. Washington state lost more than $2 million in the first year after liquidating its state-operated spirits stores. MYTH: Employees of the ABC-operated stores will be hired by private retail stores. FACT: There is no reason to think the 600-plus Alabamians who work at ABC-operated stores would be able to find other employment. Finding a job in these tough economic times is difficult, and it will be just as difficult for ABC store employees as it is for every other Alabamian. The majority of employees who were laid off after Washington state privatized its liquor stores were still underemployed or unemployed after a year. Adding hundreds of people to our unemployment rolls will have direct and indirect costs. The costs associated with unemployment payments, food assistance and housing assistance are obvious. Indirect costs of slashing the income of 600-plus Alabama families could be much more devastating. Those families will no longer have as much money to put into the local economy. Retail stores, restaurants, and tax coffers will suffer because of the inability of those families to fully participate in their local retail environment. The total costs to the state of Alabama of pushing 600 employees into the unemployment line could exceed $6 million. MYTH: Mom-and-pop package stores want the ABC out of the retail liquor business to eliminate competition with the State of Alabama. FACT: The privatization movement is largely not supported by smaller, independent package store owners. Quite the opposite is true. The Alabama Beverage License Association (ABLA) is an organization composed of independent retailers of alcohol. They are firmly against closing ABC-operated retail stores. In a letter to legislators, Bobby Greenawalt, president of the ABLA and owner of an independent store, encouraged legislators to oppose the privatization bill and pointed out that support for legislation was actually from big box, out-of-state businesses and not from the majority of locally owned, independent package stores. MYTH: Closing ABC Stores would not affect delivery of alcohol to local package stores. FACT: Currently, package stores can drive just a few miles to ABC stores, which serve as distribution hubs, to purchase inventory for their stores. If those stores are closed, package store owners would be forced to buy inventory from the ABC warehouse in Montgomery. The only other option would be to start an ABC delivery service. The package stores then would have to pay an increased price per item in order to cover the costs of ABC delivering their inventory from Montgomery. Either way, the package stores will suffer and the cost of alcohol will increase, not decrease, as some have suggested. Furthermore, no bill that has been put forth has had, in its contents, a mechanism for convenient alcohol distribution to independent package stores. MYTH: Small government conservatives should philosophically oppose government-run retail stores. FACT: Government operates businesses that are in competition with private industry in a variety of sectors. The United States Postal Service operates in the same realm as UPS and Fed-Ex. Most municipalities and counties operate garbage services that compete with privately owned waste management companies. Let’s be clear. There is not a single government service that could not be operated by a private company. The fact is, however, that some government-run operations are necessary and, in Alabama, ABC-operated liquor stores are among those necessary operations. Angi Stalnaker is an Alabama native who, as a political consultant, has worked on numerous statewide, legislative and constitutional amendment races for conservative causes and candidates. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
State-run liquor stores an unnecessary hangover from times long past
It’s not often you go to a government website and find recipes for mixed drinks. However, go to the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board webpage the home screen you’ll find a link to drink recipes. The state will tell you how to make a “Purple Rain” (which includes rum, vodka, gin, tequila, and triple sec if you were curious), “Irish Eyes” or even a chocolate margarita. If that’s not enough, if you visit the state pricing sheet you’ll get nearly 20 pages more of drinks. Why the push for strong beverages and spirits by our government? They’re in the alcohol business. Alabama is one of 17 states nationally that’s still a control state, but not to worry, they do so for your own good. From its website: “Following the era of Prohibition, each state individually decided how alcoholic beverages would be managed within its borders. The people of Alabama did not want alcoholic beverages marketed like soup and soft drinks. Recognizing the lethal potential of alcohol, Alabama citizens demanded its rigorous control. The ABC Board was legislatively created to fulfill this mandate.” Spotlighted on the homepage of the ABC board and paraphrased in their pricing sheet is an op-ed from ABC Administrator Mac Gipson that makes the case to continue the state program. He also argues against Senate Bill 115 , saying it would, “ultimately (lead) to higher prices, as well as increased consumption with all its associated social ills.” Aren’t you glad the state is here to save you from the “lethal potential of alcohol?” Could there be other interests beyond that residents of this great state need it to run liquor stores to keep them from becoming a heathen free-market system? Well, there’s all those jobs Gipson cites that would be lost. Only problem is that SB 115 by Sen. Arthur Orr addresses that. According to the committee report on the bill: “This bill also requires the Board to fill any nonessential positions with displaced ABC employees of retail operations. The bill also requires displaced employees receive (1) a five percent bidding preference when submitting an individual bid or submitting a bid on behalf of a corporation, partnership, association, or other business organization, of which the displaced employee owns at least a 50 percent interest and (2) five additional points on a state examination for appointment to the classified service for a period of two years. In addition, displaced employees shall be given a 20 percent discount on retail license and permit fees for the first two years after issuance. The bill also allows a licensee to receive a 20 percent discount on license and permit fees for employing a displaced employee full-time, for 12 consecutive months or longer. The discount would be given for each complete year the displaced employee is employed full-time, for up to five years.” Looking for other reasons to continue this not-so conservative, not-so free-market program, there’s always that big government rarely likes to end a program and return services to the market where they belong. Then there’s this a strong lobby against change: Monday morning, AL.Com’s Cameron Smith published Meet the money behind the effort to keep Alabama in the liquor retail business. In it he links to a letter Bob Leavell, former Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) administrator under Governors Folsom and James, sent to the landlords of the states liquor stores. Leavell pleads with them to contribute to a fund for lobbyists to fight Senate Bill 115, which would open up the market. In it he says, “If you thought this Bill was not going anywhere; that it would die or get killed like it always has, you need to think again!” Let’s hope he’s right! The fact is the prohibition days are long behind us and so should be the days of state-run liquor stores. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Doug McSchooler
