Few states have provisions which allow a beer manufacturer to sell beer off their licensed premises. California, like many other states did allow a brewery, winery or distiller to donate or sell alcohol beverages to a non-profit organization charitable organization which could then sell the beer to the public under a special event license. California will soon break that barrier and allow breweries to directly sell beer to the public at an assortment of events, away from the licensed premise, by obtaining a caterers permit.
AB 2174 was signed by California Governor Gavin Newson and will take effect January 1st, 2025. The new law will allow licensed breweries in the state of any size to sell their beer at public and private events through the use of a Beer Caterer’s Permit.
It will be a potential boom for craft breweries who will soon be able to sell beer at street fairs, private parties, sporting events, beer festivals and so on, and retain the profits themselves. Breweries will be able sell up to 124 gallons of beer at each event, for a maximum of 36 events per calendar year. It will also be interesting to see how large breweries (with breweries in the state such as Anheuser-Busch), will use the new privilege given their large marketing budgets and creative leverage with event producers.
Another unknown is if beer brands that don’t have a licensed brewery in the state might consider the law as being discriminatory under the landmark Supreme Court’s Granholm decision, which ruled in 2005 that laws which permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same were unconstitutional.
In the meantime, the new law will allow brewers in California a broad new turf to sell beer directly to the consumer, gain a new source of revenue and engage directly with beer drinkers outside of the brewery or brewpub.
More on the story here from Craft Brewing Business.