Distributors and Brewers Defend Three-Tier

The NBWA and the Beer Institute, among others, filed amicus briefs in support of Maine's three-tier system, which is under appeal by out-of-state wineries which wish to ship direct to consumers. Recall that distributors had one of the few legal wins in Maine earlier in the Spring, as a District court ruled that Maine's current law, which requires a face-to-face transaction before wine can be shipped direct, "simply does not impose any cognizable burden on interstate commerce that could possibly