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![handle is hein.sag/sagmd0112 and id is 1 raw text is: ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
STATUTORY INTERPRETATION - HEALTH - FOOD SERVICE
FACILITIES - WINERIES - WHETHER THE HOLDER OF A
CLASS 4 LIMITED WINERY LICENSE CAN PREPARE
CERTAIN LIMITED FOODS FOR SALE OR SERVICE AT THE
WINERY
March 14, 2023
Edward C. Rothstein, President
Board of Carroll County Commissioners
Since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Maryland has had a
detailed scheme of laws that regulate the manufacture, distribution,
and sale of alcohol in the State. See 1933 Md. Laws, Spec. Sess.,
ch. 2; see also U.S. Const., Amend. XXI (repealing the 18th
amendment and recognizing state regulation of alcohol). That
scheme, broadly speaking, establishes a three tier system that
distinguishes alcohol manufacturers from wholesalers, and
wholesalers from alcohol retailers. See Department of Legis.
Servs., Regulation of the Alcoholic Beverages Industry in
Maryland 13 (2017) (Regulation of Alcohol). Licenses for
manufacturers and wholesalers are issued by the State's Alcohol
and Tobacco Commission (ATC), while retail licenses are issued
by the local boards of license commissioners in the counties and
Baltimore City. Regulation of Alcohol, supra, at 13; see also 99
Opinions of the Attorney General 31, 32 (2014).
You have asked for an opinion of the Attorney General
regarding the scope of one type of manufacturer's license-the
Alcoholic Beverages Article. Among other things, that provision
1 These sources and others written before 2021 indicate that the State
Comptroller is responsible for licensing and regulating alcohol
manufacturers and wholesalers. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law
creating the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, see 2019 Md. Laws, ch.
12, which, as of 2021, is tasked with issuing manufacturing and
wholesaling licenses, and generally enforcing and regulating the State's
alcohol laws, see Comptroller of Maryland, Maryland Alcohol [and]
Tobacco Commission, https://www.marylandtaxes.gov/divisions/atcndex.php
(noting that, [e]ffective January 1, 2021, the ATC became authorized
to enforce and regulate the state's laws concerning alcoholic beverages)
(last visited Mar. 8, 2023). The Comptroller continues to have authority
over alcohol taxes. See Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Joint Annual Report by
the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission & Comptroller of Maryland 1
(2021).
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