NORTH CAROLINA DISTILLERS ASSOCIATION OF NORTH CAROLINA Members of the Distillers Association of North Carolina (DANC) met virtually in January to finalize our 2021 legislative agenda. Our agenda includes the following priorities for the 2021 session of the North Carolina General Assembly: 1. Appropriate $300,000 to the Department

of Agriculture and Consumer Services for marketing and promotion of North Carolina distilleries.

TEXAS TEXAS DISTILLED SPIRITS ASSOCIATION The Texas legislative session began on January 12. Governor Greg Abbott has asked the legislature to make cocktails-togo a priority this session and four bills (HB

VIRGINIA VIRGINIA DISTILLERS ASSOCIATION The past year has been a rollercoaster here in Virginia as regulatory priorities have become even more important in response to the COVID-19 public safety and economic crisis. As the crisis began, many Virginia distilleries began producing sanitizers and antiseptics to meet their civic duties and to fill in breaks in the industrial supply chains. As the public safety crisis progressed, the state-mandated closures of all distillery store

WYOMING WYOMING DISTILLERS GUILD Hello all, and Happy 2021. FET TAX IS PERMANENT! That was a heck of a nice present to get before the new year…way to go everyone who made their voices heard and put the monstrous efforts in to make this

24 

2. Establish a North Carolina Spirits Board in

b. Authorization for distillers to sell bottles

the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to foster the development of the North Carolina spirits industry.

along with offering free tastings at special events.

3. Request an exemption in the North Caro-

lina building code for construction of barreled spirits storage buildings (rickhouses) to resolve the disconnect between the state fire code and the state building code related to the storage of spirits stored in wooden casks and barrels. 4. Parity with breweries and wineries:

c. Exempt distilleries that are not engaged

in food preparation from food and lodging facility sanitation regulations. 5. E-commerce sales for distilled spirits to

out-of-state consumers. The North Carolina General Assembly will be meeting through July, and DANC will be working with our lobbyist to promote our legislative agenda.

a. Authorization for distilleries to be sub-

ject to the same day and time operating restrictions as breweries and wineries.

Pete Barger President, Distillers Association of North Carolina, Principal Partner, Southern Distilling Company

983, HB 1024, HB 1102, and SB 298) have already been filed. The Texas Distilled Spirits Association is working with representative Bernal (D-San Antonio) to advance HB 1299 this session. HB 1299 will give distillers the ability to participate in festivals, civic events, farmers markets, etc., which will help distillers market their products in their communi-

ties and across the state. TDSA is also working on bills which will expand the two-bottle limitation on sales from Texas distilleries and provide direct-to-consumer opportunities for the public.

tasting rooms, where more than 80 percent of all Virginia spirits SKUs were/are sold, created enormous economic strains for our industry members. The state enacted several fundamental emergency privileges to expand market access for our constituency through the Governor’s emergency orders, creating critical lifelines for distillery stores that allowed our industry members to maintain income and employment throughout the pandemic. Emergency privileges included direct-to-consumer (DTC) delivery and shipping privileges, as well as curbside pickup and to-go cocktails. DTC delivery (by a distillery employee or

third party) is now a permanent privilege. The Virginia Distillers Association is actively working to make DTC shipping permanent as our number-one priority. For promotional updates, the VDA is working on an annual marketing plan centered around promoting the DTC delivery and shipping privileges to Virginia residents and programming to drive tourism and visitation to Virginia distilleries as the pandemic pressures ease in the short/long-term.

a reality. With all of our combined efforts we gained a massive win for the craft distilling industry. Our big news here on the home front is that we hit the “big time” and finally hired an executive director for the Wyoming Distillers Guild. Our new ED is also the director of the Wyoming Brewers’ Guild, so in a state

like ours with relatively small membership numbers, the combined interest of both groups creates a realistic full-time position. She will essentially contract separately for both guilds, but we do plan on collaborative efforts in the future with both guilds. Having the executive director will allow the guild to significantly grow through increased mem-

Mike Cameron President Texas Distilled Spirits Association

Amy Ciarametaro Executive Director Virginia Distillers Association

WWW.ART ISANSPI RI TMAG.CO M