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Our law firm has been in the heart of Fairfax County, Virginia, since 2001. Before that, I worked a couple blocks from the White House. For the most part, we’ve handled federal beverage law during that time. But increasingly, we are handling local law matters, and this story made the shift seem more real.

See video here.

Jim Vance says the zoning laws got loosened, to make it easier for breweries, wineries and distilleries to open in our county. Even before this change, we were noticing Caboose Brewing down the street, Fair Winds Brewing in Lorton, and The Winery at Bull Run across town in Centreville. There is also the Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton. This Bowman plant closed down in 1988, after beginning distilling operations in Fairfax in 1934. Less than 1.5 miles from the office, there was a winery for a while after Prohibition, producing “Virginia Maid” wine at what is now Nottoway Park. Come to think of it, that’s startlingly little activity for a big, upscale, increasingly urban county with over 1.1 million residents and covering over 400 square miles.

As locals and as lawyers, we look forward to many more fine beverage producers setting up in our county.

Tough video on alcohol beverage law which takes aim at the Virginia ABC. It is credited to Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg, but it would be nice to know more about the people and groups and motivations behind this hard-hitting video. It won the 2009 award for video of the year, from the Sam Adams Alliance. For more information, contact Robert C. Lehrman.

It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 16 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s 2-page comment said:

1. the rule should provide that a standard serving is 1.5 fluid ounces for spirits, 12 ounces for beer and 5 ounces for wine.
2. the panel should explain that “a standard drink contains 0.6 fl. oz. of alcohol.”
3. the Serving Facts panel should show the amount of alcohol per serving.

By contrast, St. Supery Winery’s 1-page comment said:

1. the proposal is burdensome and would provide “no additional useful information to...