Wine, Beer and Spirits Law

Alcoholic Beverage Licensing

One of the most challenging aspects of any part of wine, beer and spirits law is procuring the appropriate Alcohol Beverage Licenses. Our San Diego alcohol beverage control attorneys understand these complicated processes. Dealing with the California government on any licensing issue involves a time-consuming, expensive and frustrating process even when everything goes according to schedule. If unforeseen complications arise, or you fail to anticipate the low threshold of tolerance the Alcohol Beverage Control has for failure to abide by their rigorous specifications, without an attorney your dream of obtaining an Alcoholic Beverage License can be that much further away.

Fortunately, the California wine, beer and spirits lawyers at Higgs Fletcher & Mack have extensive experience helping people just like you lay the groundwork to ensure their business has the correct documentation and complies with all federal, state and local regulatory standards.

If your brewery, winery or distillery needs to procure an Alcoholic Beverage License in California, you will want to consider some of the services the San Diego alcohol beverage control lawyers at Higgs Fletcher & Mack offer to guide you through some of the more trying and complicated parts of the process. For obtaining California alcoholic beverage licensing some of these situations our attorneys frequently encounter include:

• Facilities qualification and compliance: The regulatory standards concerning the location and facilities of your winery, brewery, distillery or other alcohol production area are quite stringent and subject to oversight and approval by a variety of different and sometimes conflicting, sometimes overlapping agencies. Failing to ensure that your facilities are up to code and operate within specified standards is one of the most common roadblocks to securing a license to produce, sell and distribute your wine, beer or spirit.
• Alternating proprietorship and custom crush operations: If you share production facilities with multiple legal entities, you need to ensure that you have clear alternate proprietorship standards between host and tenant to establish tax rates, record keeping, certifications/exemptions (COLAs), and other documentation to facilitate the license acquisition process
• Beverage product label approval and compliance: In order to sell your wine, beer or spirit, your labeling process, commonly referred to as COLAs, must adhere to strict standards regarding alcohol content, health warnings and other consumer advisories. Failing to take into account even the smallest issue can doom your project before it can even begin, so it is wise to consult our wine, beer and spirit lawyers before you embark on such an undertaking.
• Direct-to-consumer shipping and distribution issues: Selling wine, beer and spirits online has become a major sales channel for many producers of every size, but current and proposed federal laws could significantly restrict this ability. Higgs Fletcher & Mack attorneys are on the cutting edge of legal understanding for these complex issues, and can allow your business to anticipate the requirements imposed by this legislation, and help compensate for the variances in state and federal law.
• Application processing: Perhaps the most important part of obtaining an Alcoholic Beverage License in California is the physical application process. Our lawyers can shepherd this complicated process, ensure your documentation is in order, and revise the paperwork should any issues arise.

The California Alcoholic Beverage Licensing process is long and complicated, but when you hire the guidance and support of the wine, beer and spirits lawyers at Higgs Fletcher & Mack, we can put our extensive experience to work for you and help ensure your licensing experience is as efficient and comprehensive as possible.

If you need to take the next step with your brewery, winery or distillery, fill out the free initial contact form, and let us help you move forward today.