Iowa: Liquor sales are big business for state
Several bottles of highly sought-after Old Rip Van Winkle bourbon - which can retail for hundreds or even thousands of dollars a bottle - sit in a locked cage at the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) warehouse. At the other end of the facility, which sits...
Massachusetts: Package Stores aren’t Toasting Expanded Sunday Hours
Liquor stores in Massachusetts may open two hours earlier on Sundays beginning this weekend, but not all purveyors of spirits plan to take advantage of the expanded hours. At the Liquor Locker in Gloucester, the hours posted on the door have been changed...
Maryland: Comptroller Finds No Issues With Liquor Deal; Wholesaler Cleared In Investigation
The state Comptroller's Office Field Enforcement Division this week opined a major liquor wholesaler in Maryland did not engage in unfair trade practices and false advertising when Worcester's Department of Liquor Control (DLC) locked into a deep discount price on a...
Pennsylvania: Federal Grand Jury Reviewing Liquor Control Board Violations, Sources Tell Trib the System
A federal grand jury is investigating whether employees of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board had improper relationships with wine and spirits vendors doing business with the agency, according to sources close to the investigation. Current and former LCB...
Virginia: ABC to Use Liquor Markup to Modernize the System
The impending markup of liquor sold in Virginia ABC stores will pay for far more than $2.5 million to help close a $2.4 billion revenue gap in the state budget. The total markup - and its effect on the price of distilled spirits in state stores - has not been...
Canada: Panel recommends Ontario keep public ownership of LCBO, OPG and Hydro One
The Liquor Control Board, Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One should all remain in public hands, but Hydro One should get out of the local distribution business, a special government advisory panel said Friday. The Liberal government set up the panel to look...
A Vodka With a Twist of Tort
Is Tito 's Handmade Vodka really handmade? Would it taste any less good if it weren't anymore? Type "handmade vodka" into Google and the first two pages of results are about one brand: Tito's Handmade Vodka from Austin, Texas. You could say the "handmade"...
Speculations Indicate Anheuser Busch And PepsiCo Merger
Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (ADR) (BUD) received a lot of media coverage recently due to the ongoing speculation in the market that the global beverage and brewing company is planning to take over beer rival SABMiller plc ADR (SBMRY). This instigated a lot of debt buzz...
Canada: B.C. Liquor Laws to Allow Alcohol in Grocery Stores Spring 2015
British Columbians should be able to buy a bottle of wine along with their groceries from Spring 2015. The B.C. government announced further details for selling alcohol in the province's grocery stores Friday, with the expectation that the new program will be...