Lawmakers held a hearing recently focused on the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system. Their goal was to learn why ABC store shelves are empty and why bars and restaurants are scratching and scraping for typically ubiquitous brands such as Jameson’s and Titos. The ABC blames problems with the global supply chain, but that’s only part...
I’ve written volumes over the past few years about the way North Carolina controls distilled spirits. There’s little need to recount the many problems here, other than to say the coronavirus and the ensuing consumer panic has exposed the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system for what is. It’s draconian and harsh. Arcane and unfriendly to...
Thousands of distillers, brewers, and vintners across the country, are worried. Probably rightfully so. It’s not onerous state rules or continued noise from prohibitionists that worries them. Those are certainly deep concerns, but not necessarily in this moment. The target of their collective consternation is Washington, D.C. And their worries aren’t about what federal lawmakers...
Say you want a fidget spinner. Well, if you have a few bucks for one, then you go buy it. Same goes for a burger. Lots of choices, lots of options. Then, say, you want a mixed drink at your favorite local restaurant. If the town or city in which you live allows so-called liquor-by-the-drink,...
As I listened Tuesday to a N.C. House committee discuss an alcohol bill, I thought about how America debated the 18th Amendment. In 1917, and for years after that. I thought about how we spoke to each other — those influenced by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. Those from worlds where...
It’s time to wake up, North Carolina. Enough is truly enough. In truth, it’s well past time lawmakers take substantive steps toward rewriting or eliminating much of the arcane laws governing alcohol, painfully documented in N.C. General Statute 18b. It runs nearly 150 pages and almost 70,000 words. So, let’s open that cracked and weathered...
I made a presentation recently to a community GOP club, a group of kind people who were smart, engaged, and curious. Much like many of the other groups I speak to and with. Most recently, I spoke about the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and how it keeps a stranglehold on the production, sale, distribution,...
The way North Carolina governs alcoholic spirits must change, for myriad reasons. It breeds favoritism and corruption. It’s archaic, monopolistic, and, when comparing the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system to its counterparts in neighboring states, downright embarrassing. Clearly, lawmakers need to reconfigure, if not trash entirely, this nonsensical system, which empowers 168 local boards —...
Makers of craft alcohol in North Carolina — whether it’s beer, wine, or liquor — generally agree on some expected benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the president signed in December. Mainly, lower excise taxes and some tweaking of alcohol-by-volume limits. The chance to expand and to hire more workers. To make...
The N.C. House has stripped a provision in Senate Bill 155 that would have allowed North Carolina distilleries to sell directly to consumers, via the internet. Rep. Pat Hurley, R-Randolph, proposed the amendment to remove that part of the bill, which passed the House on Tuesday evening and the Senate Wednesday night. S.B. 155, among...
