To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Lisa Anderson, Town Clerk
Title
Discussion/Direction: Tasting Licenses for new Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer Licenses
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Proposition 125 passed at the November 2022 election allowing Fermented Malt Beverage (FMB) licensed stores (convenience and grocery stores) to:
(1) Sell wine
(2) Conduct Tastings
This current FMB licenses will automatically be converted to Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer licenses on March 1, 2023.
Staff would like to have Council direction if they wish to amend our code to allow FMB and Wine Retailer licenses to hold tastings.
Additionally, if Council wants to make any amendments to our current regulations or adopt State regulations.
Discussion
Tastings are currently regulated under CRS 44-3-301 authorizing Tastings at Retail Liquor Stores and Liquor Licensed Drug Stores (and now FMB and Wine Retailer licenses) if the municipality adopts an ordinance authorizing tastings, and can be stricter on the number of tastings and the days or hours for tastings.
Current Statute on Tastings:
• Are applied for and approved by the Local Authority
• Conducted by a representative of the store or the wholesaler, brew or distillery pub or winery that is TIPS trained.
• Samples must be:
o free of charge
o limited to four samples to a patron
o cannot exceed 1 ounce of malt of vinous liquor or ½ ounce of spirituous liquor per sample in an open container.
Castle Rock adopted an ordinance allowing Tastings for Retail Liquor Stores and Liquor Licensed Drug Stores with three stricter regulations.
Castle Rock Stricter Regulations:
Castle Rock Statute allows
Tastings 104 per year 156 per year
Days 4/wk - Mon-Sat 7 days a week
Five Hours 11am-7pm 11am - 9pm
Opened Bottles Destroyed Save for future Tastings
Below is a breakdown of license types within Castle Rock depicted on Attached Map:
|
License Type |
Licensed to Sell |
Number of Stores |
|
Retail Liquor Store (RLS) |
All types of alcohol |
12 |
|
Liquor-Licensed Drugstore (LLD) |
All types of alcohol |
2 |
|
Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer (FMB) |
Full strength beer, other fermented malt beverages such as hard seltzers and Wine (as of 3/1/23) |
21 |
Town Council has the ability to:
1. Update our Code to allow FMB and Wine Retailer licenses to conduct Tastings.
2. Retain or Amend our stricter regulations OR adopt the state regulations as noted.
Budget Impact
This potentially could increase revenue if the FMB and Wine Retailer licensees applied for Tastings licenses.
Staff Recommendation
Staff does not see any issue giving the ability for FMB and Wine licenses to hold Tastings if they choose.
Staff has no objection to deferring to statute on regulations which would increase the number of Tastings per year, allow more flexibility for the times to conduct Tastings; and to allow opened containers to be saved for future Tastings as many of these beverages are expensive.
Tasting licenses must be applied for each year to run concurrently with their liquor license and are reviewed for any issues with their liquor license or their Tasting license.
Staff has issued Tasting licenses to liquor stores with no issues occurring.
Proposed Motion
Add FMB and Wine Retailer licenses (and Adopt State regulations)
I move to Direct Staff to propose an Ordinance amending our Code to allow Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer licenses to conduct Tastings and to defer to State Statute on regulations concerning Tastings.
OR
Add FMB and Wine Retailer licenses (and retain current Town restrictions)
I move to Direct Staff to propose an Ordinance amending our Code to allow Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer licenses to conduct Tastings.
OR
Add FMB and Wine licenses (and amend Town restrictions)
I move to Direct Staff to propose an Ordinance amending our Code to allow Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Retailer licenses to conduct Tastings and to amend Town restrictions as follows:
Attachments
Map of Licenses