Beer laws and taxes

There's gotta be a website somewhere. Try Google.

 

You'll have to Google "alcohol laws" and pick out the beer info yourself. It's there.

 

One of the most important things to check for a new brewery is if you can self distribute. This saves a TON of money in the long run. I know you can in Colorado, but that's all I know.

 

I dont know if such a "quick" overview could even exist, since there is so much information for each individual state. I just did a quick search for this information in my state of Texas, and found a document that is about 8 pages long and still isnt totally comprehensive.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alcohol_laws_of_the_United_States_by_state

 

I'm not trying to talk down to you. Just take a look at it - it's in chart form.
If you heard from just one person in all 50 states, you would still have to read 50 different codes. And you will hear from more than one person in many states, thereby increasing your reading and increasing the possibility of getting various information for a particular state.

 

A "quick" over view would be difficult. The licensing laws will be in one part of the state's statutes and the tax laws may be in another part. Additionally, there may be an entire additional layer of regulations and fees by the county and/or municipality.

Here is a statute currently pending in NJ that would allow brewers to sell at the brewery an offer samples on tours. (The underlined parts are the addition to the law) http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2010/Bills/A4000/3520_I1.PDF
There is also a bill pending in NJ that would allow some self distribution.

 

That's almost the exact opposite of reality. Self-distribution can be beneficial in the short run, but it quickly becomes a logistical nightmare once you expand beyond your city, which is everyone pretty much everyone signs on with a distributor sooner or later.

 

If I was opening a brewery, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't rely on the BA community for law and tax advice. Get a lawyer son if you're serious about doing this. Goodluck!

 

I have never owned a brewery, distributor or bottle shop, so this is my opinion without any factual basis whatsoever.

It seems that in the begining self distribution would be important so that you can get your product "out there." If you aren't "out there" there will be no demand and a distributor is not going to be interested in distributing your product.
However, once you create a demand, you need the distributor to get your product into bigger stores and bars, restauraunts etc.

 

I can actually see this evolving as the number of breweries increases. The wine industry is full of self-distributed wineries that basically don't distribute beyond their tasting rooms. Granted, they are all fairly small, but the smaller ones have figured out that keeping things modest and raking in huge margins is the way to go.

Say you run a successful brewpub and have been for years. You bottle your beer, self distribute, and your kids are taking new cars with them to private college. If people want your beer, they come to you. Unless you are a success-driven nut (not saying there aren't plenty of those) there would be no reason to hook up with a distributor.

 

Come on. Who better to get tax and legal advice from than strangers on an internet forum?

 

If you are distributing outside of your city, you no longer need help from an online beer forum.

Since he wanted help I was making the assumption he would start small with limited capital. In this case, the best way to start is serving beer on site and self distributing. Beyond the savings on licenses and taxing, it's also much easier to handle the logistics and accounting.

My use of the phrase "long run" was misleading, I meant the long run of being a start up nano brewery. This obviously all changes once you're looking at wide distribution.

 

Precisely, which is why I said it's beneficial in the short term. As you said, it is a great way to get your name out there and connect with all the local bar and bottle shop owners that serve as your initial base of support. However, sooner or later the hassles of maintaining delivery vehicles, hiring drivers, figuring out efficient delivery routes, etc outweighs the extra profit margin you get by going it alone. For all the crap people like to fling at the distributors, most of them are very, very good at what they do, and if it weren't for their economies of scale and massive fleets you would see a lot less variety on your local shelves.

Back to the OP's question: I would be more concerned with finding a market in need of another brewery than finding places with the most favorable laws. Using FL as an example, I'm sure Cigar City would love to fill 64oz growlers, but they seem to be growing just fine without them. As long you make great beer and know how run the business side of things (or hire someone who does), people will find a way to get their beer in their bellies.

 

This is out of hand? Brutha, it ain't out of hand until Scarlet makes an appearance

 

It's asinine here too.