N.C. lawmakers, one could argue, have had unprecedented success this legislative session in reforming the state’s archaic laws governing spirituous liquor. Senate Bill 290 — which passed the Senate, 39-4, and was sent to the House, where it passed the House ABC Committee and now sits in the House’s Rules Committee — is one example. ...
Lawmakers have offered several proposals to repair the broken, outdated way the state governs alcohol through the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system. About a dozen bills, in fact, are moving through the General Assembly, and one, House Bill 363, the Craft Beer Distribution and Modernization Act, is now law. H.B. 363 allows breweries that sell...
Please, send this one back. It tastes bitter. Opponents of measures that would relax North Carolina’s arcane — punitive, even — ABC laws are running out of new arguments, which are becoming more pervasive, more hard-edged. The clock, they know, is ticking. These alcohol opponents are quick to cite studies relating alcohol to traffic fatalities,...
Gentry Lassiter and his wife, Rebecca, run a small distillery on the main street in Knightdale. Lassiter Distilling Co. is the epitome of a small business, which the couple built just a few years ago. The Lassiters procure molasses, yeast, and other ingredients needed to make and bottle their award-winning line of rums. They order...
