I don’t think there was any such thing as a “beverage lawyer” until about 2000. Yes, there were definitely alcohol beverage law experts well before that time. Abe Buchman is widely acknowledged as the master. But I don’t think he, or his contemporaries, referred to themselves as such. Since about 2010, it is becoming quite a common term.
Quite a few lawyers and law firms refer to themselves as beverage law experts. There is a reason. It is a broad, complicated, important, and specialized field. It is so broad that most individual lawyers, even with law training and decades of experience, cannot know the great range of issues, from land use to trademarks to contracts to treaty law to environmental and tax.
If the typical producer can know this broad range or important subject matter, in addition to making and marketing top notch products, we tip our hats to you. For most mere mortals, this is a daily challenge. We can’t say our firm covers beverage law from soup to nuts, but we can help you out when it comes to labels, formulas, permits, trademark and just about any federal issues that arises with respect to beer, wine or spirits. Where we don’t have the expertise, we can usually refer you to a specialized expert. For a video, on why it is often advisable to have a lawyer help with some of these issues, click here.
For more information about this topic, contact Robert Lehrman.
