permits

In case you missed it, amidst the hoopla about vaccines and the Springsteen-Obama podcasts, make sure you know about Marshall Fawley’s podcast with The Legal Talk Network. Marshall covered a wide variety of spirits law issues as follows.

• Making Booze (Part 1) came out March 5, 2021 and is here
• Making Booze (Part 2) came out March 8, 2021 and is here

Marshall covers (in order):  excise taxes, early US history, the Constitution, Al Capone, the FAA Act, labels, stills, home production, TTB, moonshine, plant security, distillation, denatured alcohol, licensing, Moonshine University and other topics. I have it on good authority that Bruce and Barack barely scratched the surface on any of these crucial topics.

The podcast Legal Talk Today is produced by The Legal Talk Network, which is “The premier provider of podcasts for attorneys and legal professionals. Over 15 shows on varied topics highlight important issues, current events, technology and the future of law. Legal Talk Network’s shows are hosted by leading industry professionals and feature high profile guests.” As of this writing, the Springsteen podcast had a few more downloads, but we will keep checking back to see if Marshall is gaining on those other skilled communicators.

Last week I had the honor of participating in AHPA’s webinar on kombucha law. Part of the recording is above and here. The American Herbal Products Association has been active since 1982, and now has more than 300 food, beverage and supplement members. It was an honor because of the eminence of my co-presenters:

1. Justin Prochnow, FDA lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, Denver
2. Will Garvin, FDA lawyer at Buchanan Ingersoll, Washington
3. Peter Evich, Lobbyist, Van Scoyoc Associates, Washington
4. Art Libertucci, Consultant, The Buckles Group, Washington

Justin spoke on bottle bills issues. Will covered FDA labeling. Peter covered pending legislative issues. Art helped organize the webinar. I spoke on the various TTB issues raised by kombucha. It was also an honor because the issues are so timely and challenging. Kombucha is surging in popularity. It raises difficult issues such as:

1. is it beer, wine, cereal beverage, malt beverage, food, supplement, or some combination
2. what TTB permits may be needed
3. does it need FDA or TTB labeling, or both
4. what taxes apply
5. what penalties may apply, if you blow it

The entire video is about 2 hours, but I have chopped it down to the 30 minutes or so that covers the TTB issues (1-5 as listed above). The entirety, with about 20 minutes of...