Stateways

Maine Tim Poulin Acting Director, Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations The Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages works in cooperation with its wholesale liquor distributor and more than 400 privately owned agency liquor stores across the state. The Bureau works daily with the Department of Public Safety on issues of enforcement and advertising. We also collaborate with the Maine Attorney General's Office to evaluate our distilled spirits listing process, initi- ate programs to further educate the public on the issues of furnishing alcohol to minors and more generally, the chal- lenges of illegal consumption on college campuses. YTD case sales in Maine are up 3.6 percent while total sales are up 4.5 percent. The top 20 products cur- rently account for 20 percent of overall sales (down from 27 percent last year). Allens Coffee Brandy continues to be our number one selling product, and represents 10 percent of overall sales (down from 13 percent). Canadian whiskeys and spiced rums continue to be high- ly popular in the Maine market. The Bureau was successful in negotiating with the Department of Public Safety to establish a six month pilot program to allow for distilled spirits to be marketed any- where beer and wine are marketed as long as a local store manager approves the location. This is a departure from the current restriction that distilled spirits must be placed in a predetermined and confined area while beer and wine can be marketed almost anywhere in an agency store. This change supports evidenced based research that sug- gests that alcohol is alcohol and polices that treat beer, wine and distilled spirits the same when it comes to tast- ings, sampling and product placement on the floor allow for greater consistency for consumers, ease of administra- tion for regulators and enhanced marketing and pre- dictability for industry. The pilot, which began in July, runs till January 15, 2012. The pilot will then be evaluat- ed and hopefully installed as a permanent change in how the state chooses to market its alcohol beverage products. Another goal for the legislative session was to give the Bureau the authority to collect on-premise purchas- ing data. Previously, on-premise licensees were required to report liquor purchases to the Department of Public Safety; however, a process for this data collection had not been put into place due to limited administrative resources in that department. This has been an area where Maine's data has not been available to industry for analysis or planning. With this change, the Bureau will now be working toward a process that will make that data available in the very near future. We are very pleased to announce that our Online Seller Server Training will be launching this September. Legislation now allows the Department of Public Safety to consider seller/server training as a condition of licensure, and the need for a more accessible training options are in high demand from business owners across our state. It is our collective goal to ensure all sellers/servers have the StateWays s www.stateways.com s September/October 2011 training they need to reduce the irresponsible sale or use of alcohol beverages. An online, readily accessible and user friendly resource will tremendously help obtain that goal. Maine continues its mission to effectively regulate the beverage alcohol industry, ensure responsible busi- ness practices and create a favorable economic climate while prohibiting sales to minors. Michigan Andrew Deloney Chairperson, Michigan Liquor Control Commission The Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) prides itself on being a high performance agency excelling in eco- nomic development, rev- enue generation and public safety. Holding a license to sell alcoholic beverages can be considered an impor- tant component of being competitive and profitable within the hospitality industry. The biggest development for the MLCC this past year has been the newest appointments to the Commission. Nida Samona and Patrick Gagliardi's terms ended in June 2011. New Chairman Andrew J. Deloney and Commissioner Teri L. Quimby joined Commissioner Donald Weatherspoon as Administrative Commissioners for the MLCC. Deloney comes to the MLCC from the Michigan Restaurant Association and knows first-hand what it is like to work with the MLCC on a daily basis. Chairman Deloney has set a goal of reducing complexity by simplifying and streamlining the licensing process. Other developments this past year include the pas- sage of P.A. 213 of 2010, which allows the sale of alco- holic beverages on Sunday mornings. The new act moves up the legal hours of sale of beer, wine and spir- its, unless prohibited by local government, from 12 noon to 7 a.m. The MLCC Licensing Division worked hard at pushing out over 5,600 Sunday morning permits since going into effect December 2010. Also passing through the legislature, was P.A. 20 of 2011 which created a new catering permit. This permit may be issued by the MLCC to both on and off premise licensees and allows the sale and delivery of beer, wine and spirits in the original sealed containers for off premise consumption at private events. The law also requires the permit holder to serve the alcoholic bever- ages at the event and successfully complete the MLCC approved service training program. Another big virtual step for the MLCC is that as of July 1, 2011 all retail licensees must order their distilled spirits through the State of Michigan's online ordering system. Although, in the beginning there was push back from 17

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• From the Editor
• Dateline
• Spotlight On
• Executive Forum
• American Whiksey
• POS Systems
• Liqueurs
• New Products & Packaging
• Ad Index