Maine required Tito’s to use its control-state warehouse system, then treated the inventory as a tax connection. The decision gives alcohol suppliers a reason to review bailment terms, retained title, and the tax consequences of mandatory distribution arrangements.
Retailer-shipping challengers prevailed in the Sixth Circuit’s Ohio case. The opinion illustrates why discriminatory shipping restrictions require an evidentiary defense and why that inquiry differs from a challenge to the three-tier system as a whole.
District Winery wanted to store alcohol outside the District. Its appeal put a warehouse rule, inspections, and Tennessee Wine’s treatment of state alcohol regulation in play.
