A bill that would have allowed Vermont distilleries to sell their products online failed to make it out of a Senate committee, the second year in a row distillers have come up short in their effort to begin shipping directly to their customers, according to the lead sponsor of the bill.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, said she was disappointed the issue didn't get more "air time" in the Legislature.
"Many of us have been looking at this issue for a long time, this is not the first year we've taken it up," Ram Hinsdale said.
Vermont distilleries take Vermont farm products and turn them into spirits that "put Vermont's brand and beauty on the map around the world," Ram Hinsdale said. She said she found it frustrating that people are still unable to buy those spirits online, even after the pandemic made it more difficult for distillers to connect in person with their customers.
Ryan Christiansen, president and head distiller at Caledonia Spirits in Montpelier, couldn't agree more with Ram Hinsdale. Christiansen said distillers want the same ability to sell online that wineries have in Vermont. The COVID-19 pandemic largely shut down the farmers markets and tasting rooms Vermont distillers relied on to attract customers, he said, and consumer habits have changed.
"We're seeing a dramatic reduction in the number of events we can participate in and the number of people at those events," Christiansen said. "At the same time we've seen a dramatic spike in the number of people coming to our website. They're confused why they can't buy spirits like they buy wine."
Thanks to the wineries, the infrastructure to confirm the age of online purchasers is in place, according to Christiansen.
"That's the question we're asking," Christiansen said. "Why wine and not spirits? For two years we haven't been able to talk. We're hopeful that in a third year we'll get a voice."
All states allow direct shipment of wine, and some include beer, cider and mead, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only six states — Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia — and the District of Columbia allow direct shipment of all spirits.
Bigger fish to fry than online whiskey sales
The bill that would have allowed distilleries to sell online died in the Senate Committee on Economic Development, chaired by Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden. Sirotkin did not immediately return a call for comment, but Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, said there were simply more important economic development issues to address this year.