Virginia distillers push 'booze equality' legislation to loosen state rules on liquor tasting rooms
As they’ve watched Virginia’s brewery and wine industries boom, craft distillers have begun to feel the state is unfairly harsh on businesses that make the stronger stuff.
In a General Assembly committee room Tuesday, the spirits industry, with the help of both Republican and Democratic backers, tried to methodically chip away at state regulations, asking a House of Delegates subcommittee to pass legislation letting distillers serve more alcohol to customers, open earlier on Sundays and build remote tasting rooms to expand their clientele.
But the biggest change in state law sought by the Virginia Distillers Association involves money, and distillery owners’ contention that they’re in a state of financial servitude to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Unlike wineries and breweries, when distilleries sell bottles of their own products out of their tasting rooms, 54 percent of the markup profits goes to the ABC, the state monopoly that runs 370 liquor stores throughout the state.
Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/virginia-distillers-push-booze-equality-legislation-to-loosen-state-rules/article_35a4cf52-0d56-5d94-9601-ee39a62ad0f2.html
