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Bill to let spirit-based RTDs into grocery stores fails after industry witnesses testify
Summary
House Bill 15-33, which would allow spirit-based ready-to-drink cocktails to be sold in grocery and convenience stores under a supplemental ABC license, failed in committee after industry testimony and a 0-7-1 vote against the measure.
House Bill 15-33, sponsored in committee as a consumer-access update to Tennessee's alcohol laws, failed after industry witnesses testified and members voted 0-7 with one present not voting. Sponsor Speaker Marsh described the measure as a limited fix to allow spirit-based ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails to be sold where beer- and wine-based RTDs are already available, capped at 10% alcohol by volume under a supplemental ABC license.
Matt Caudill, general manager for retail operations with Beach Oil Company, said the change would create parity for retailers and consumers. "Consumers want them," Caudill told the committee, arguing spirit-based RTDs "typically contain the same or even less alcohol than beer or wine based RTDs." Charity Tombs, executive director of the Tennessee Guild, said broader retail access could help small craft distillers access new markets and justify investment in RTD production.
Corey Seneci of the Distilled Spirits Council urged parity with neighboring states and cited employment and tax figures, saying expanded distribution "would generate new sales of spirit based RTDs" and could add an estimated $9,900,000 per year in tax revenue if consumers switched from malt to spirit RTDs. Committee members raised legal and referendum questions about the state's 2014 wine-in-grocery change; following brief debate the clerk announced the vote result as "0 ayes, 7 noes and 1 present not voting" and the bill failed in committee.
