As more companies – including businesses with and without experience producing alcoholic beverages – move to leverage their brands and brand equity across the beverage spectrum, regulators, trade associations and the companies themselves are focusing on ways to responsibly label, advertise, market and display these products to avoid consumer confusion and potential sales to minors.…

In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the US Supreme Court expressly overruled the doctrine of deferring to an agency’s interpretation of allegedly ambiguous statutory language initially articulated in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. Under the Chevron doctrine, courts applied a two-step framework interpreting statutes administered by federal agencies. The first step asks whether Congress had…

On May 21, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) published the highly anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to reschedule marijuana (cannabis) from a Schedule I controlled substance to Schedule III, taking the first step to easing federal restrictions on cannabis and potentially opening up the door for further cannabis research and development. This regulatory change…

As reported throughout the trade press, alcohol beverage companies are facing escalating pressure from unions and the National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB, the federal agency that enforces labor laws against both unionized and non-unionized companies). As recently as last month, an NLRB administrative law judge ordered Woodford Reserve Distillery to recognize and bargain with…

The recent ransomware attack against the Duvel Moortgat Brewery demonstrated the very real risk that cybersecurity incidents pose to the alcohol industry, reportedly halting operations for several days at four of Duvel Moortgat’s facilities in Europe and the United States. This attack comes after other major alcohol producers experienced disruptive ransomware attacks in the last…

Many alcohol beverage industry clients are faced with lawsuits attacking product labels. These lawsuits can be frustrating for clients, particularly when the labels at issue were previously approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). But approval by the TTB does not insulate a company from a lawsuit under various state consumer…

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s (TTB) Office of Field Operations is responsible for ensuring industry members comply with the Federal Alcohol Administration Act, the Internal Revenue Code and all related regulations. It is divided into three groups: the Trade Investigations Division (TID), the Tax Audit Division (TAD) and the Intelligence Division. Many…