Shaping American Alcohol Law: Cowboy Saloons, Al Capone and the Rise of Craft Beer

More than 80 years after the end of Prohibition, alcohol beverages remain among the most tightly regulated products in the United States: (1) product manufacture, formulation and labeling often require pre-approval by a federal agency; (2) intra-industry licensing and investment remains highly restricted; and (3) marketing, distribution and sales continue to be subject to detailed requirements. The ghosts of cowboys and bootleggers play an outsized role in dictating and distorting how businesses operate in the craft beverage era. 

Taking a deep dive into the principals underlying American alcohol beverage law and how businesses are evolving in the face of entrenched legal constraints, this course, presented by Cary Greene, a food and beverage attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Kevin Atticks, an alcohol beverage industry consultant with Grow & Fortify based in Maryland, addresses the line between innovation and lawbreaking and the efforts to bring the law closer to the market. 

Learning Objectives: 

I.     Recognize the presumptions behind legal alcohol beverage sales in the U.S. 

II.    Understand the dynamics of the modern American alcohol beverage industry-how businesses benefit from the status quo and the challenges faced by innovators 

III.   Learn how the laws are changing and where the alcohol beverage industry is headed