Distilling News: May 2021
There has been a lot of distilling news in the last month and it is far too much to cover in a single post. Whether you get your distilling news from the American Distilling Institute, the American Craft Spirits Association, or DISCUS, distilling popularity in 2021 seems to be spiking and there are a few stories that stand out from the rest. It’s always difficult to hit all the highlights in a single post so please comment and let us know if there’s more that you would like us to cover in future articles.
One of the biggest stories recently has been the changes in cocktails to go in several states. There were several changes to alcohol regulations over the past year to combat the pandemic and several states have made the measure permanent.
Every state except for South Dakota and New Mexico has at least temporarily allowed some form of alcohol take out during the pandemic. While not all are signed into law yet Florida, Iowa, West Virginia, and several other states have at least partially passed legislation to make to-go alcohol permanent. Alabama and Ohio have actually passed laws allowing home alcohol delivery.
A recent poll conducted for the Center for Alcohol Policy shows that overall Americans support individual states set their own regulations for consumer alcohol sales. The poll found that 83% of the respondents support these measures with little variation by political affiliation, making this a solidly bipartisan view. Similarly, 85% of respondents were at least somewhat satisfied with the existing alcohol purchase system in their state.
These numbers have been pretty steady overall since the survey started in 2008, despite the growing popularity and support of less restrictive alcohol laws, there is still an incredible amount of support for maintaining some regulations. The Center of Alcohol Policy also found that 87% of respondents indicated that they felt it was important to keep the alcohol industry regulated, while only 12% overall felt that their state’s regulations were too restrictive.
There are a lot of changes being proposed in the laws around distilling and distribution and it can be a challenge to keep up with everything that’s happening. Distilling popularity in 2021 is on the rise and there will likely be more changes coming.
If this is an issue that is important to you then reach out to one of the groups listed above, talk to your local distiller’s association or give us a call. Even a quick email or sharing a post can help spread the word and hopefully steer the changes in the right direction.
