THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS PUSHING COMPETITION POLICY. I hadn’t noticed the specifics on the alcoholic beverage industry until I read this. “They direct the Secretary of the Treasury (with the Attorney General and the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)) to look at the impact on small business from the consolidations occurring in all three tiers and direct the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to undertake new rulemaking on trade practices to update the regulations, rescind current regulations that unnecessarily impede competition, and reduce any barriers (within TTB’s legal authority and control) to market entry by smaller and independent distillers, wineries, or breweries.”

This all sounds positive. The small/independent businesses in this field were flourishing pre-Covid and seem to be bouncing back, but there are a lot of barriers to entry and many of them are regulatory. And, as I’ve mentioned before, our alcohol regulatory structure dates back to a Prohibition mindset.