Final Thoughts on the Three-Tier System

Part Ten of a 10-Part Series on the Three-Tier System of Alcohol Regulation

This is the tenth and final installment of a 10-part series examining the Three-Tier System of alcohol distribution in the United States. It is my intent to examine the details, history, impact, politics, and alternatives to this uniquely American set of alcohol laws.

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If the number of middle-tier wholesalers in the United States was tripled, you might be able to mitigate the problems that currently plague the alcohol distribution system. As it is, the number of wholesalers continues to shrink via consolidation, and the inherent liabilities of this ancient and dilapidated regulatory system only become worse each year.

The primary liability of the Three-Tier System (TTS) is it is a regulatory system built to address a problem that does not exist and built to regulate a culture, society, and economy that disappeared over a half-century ago. This wouldn’t be a problem if that system was able to address the challenges of today. But it can’t.

Today’s TTS does not provide a path to the retail market for the thousands of brands that today’s highly consolidated wholesale tier neither wants to nor can possibly distribute. This would be less of a problem for domestic producers and importers if they had the legal right to distribute their own brands or were able to find specialty retailers that were also able to ship wine interstate. But neither of these options is either viable or legal.