The Recent NY Spirits Shipping Bill is Both a Travesty and a Step in the Right Direction

Looking under the hood of the most recent DtC shipping law

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill that will allow New Yorkers to receive shipments of spirits, cider, and mead. However….the vast majority of distillers, meaderies, and cideries in the United States will still be barred from shipping their products to New Yorkers. How is this? Is it constitutional?

It was the passage of Senate and House Bills S2852A and A3132A that led to the newest shipping law in the country. Sponsored by Senator James Skoufis, the bill allows NY producers of spirits, cider, and mead to ship their products directly to New Yorkers. It also allows out-of-state producers of spirits, cider, and mead to ship to New Yorkers — BUT, ONLY IF THOSE PRODUCERS LIVE IN STATES THAT ALLOW NEW YORK SPIRIT, CIDER AND MEAD PRODUCERS TO SHIP INTO THEIR STATE.

Currently, only Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia allow out-of-state spirit producers to ship in. This effectively means that ONLY distillers in these seven states may ship to New Yorkers.

Looking only at the craft distilling marketplace in the United States, in 2022 there were 2,753. such distillers operating. The total number of distillers in the seven states where direct shipment is allowed, plus now the state of New York, is 371. Put another way, New Yorkers, after the signing of this legislation, have access via shipping to a mere 13% of the craft distillers in the United States.

This is a decent start and yet this form of direct shipping law is still unconstitutional.