A Primer for the New President of the Wine & Spirits Wholesaler's Trade Organization

Dear Mr Creighton: Allow me to explain....

The primary organization in the United States dedicated to preventing consumers from accessing the wines they want has new leadership. According to a press release by the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America, Mr. Francis Crieghton will lead the WSWA as its president and CEO.

Upon accepting the position, President Creighton made the following statement:

“Consumers benefit from the three-tiered regulatory system with safe products and an incredible range of choices, and I look forward to supporting wholesalers by working with the WSWA team, member companies and industry partners to make sure the U.S. marketplace continues to be the most diverse and competitive in the world.”

I want to be among the first to welcome President Creighton to the 1930s. I wonder if he was a Roosevelt or Hoover supporter.

. . . .

Were it only so. There is a case to be made that after the Repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s the very “Three-Tier System” that Mr. Creighton all of a sudden is so pleased with did indeed provide a thirsty country with both safe products and a wider range of products than drinkers had been used to encountering in the recent past. However, what is incontrovertible is that in the 2020s, the three-tier system is the primary culprit in thwarting consumers from accessing the wine products they want, as well as significantly slowing the growth of the wine industry as a whole.

It’s important to be very clear about what we are talking about when we recall just how corrupting the three-tier system is for both the wine industry as well as consumers. The first thing to be clear about is that despite the term “three-tier system” being used as a euphemism for a state’s entire alcohol regulatory system, in fact, this system is a very specific and very limited set of regulations. In order for a state to possess a true three-tier system, it must require two things: