Page 7 - 2021 NABCA Annual Conference Brochure

Business Sessions

Business Session I: Business Session II:

Balancing Alcohol Alcohol Trends In

Regulatory Policy The Digital Age

Tuesday ■ May 18, 2021 Wednesday ■ May 19, 2021

12:15 pm – 1:30 pm 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm

The rise and fall of alcohol regulation is often closely re- Technology has transformed modern day living! This
lated to harmful alcohol consumption and at other times, transformation has been accelerated by the pandemic.
reviving governmental revenue streams. The momentum Additionally, changing demographics across the globe,
and activism that led to Prohibition in the United States tariff and trade policies, competition from the expanding
was driven by harmful consumption in families and com- legal cannabis marketplace and shifting consumer tastes
munities and grew into a political willingness to enact the make forecasting next to impossible. As a result, the Con-
18th amendment. In 1932, in the grips of the depression, trol Jurisdictions and the alcohol beverage industry must
prohibition was lifted, not just because some considered adapt to today’s customer expectations and prepare for
it unenforceable, but perhaps even more influential was tomorrow’s consumers. Will localism continue to rise in
the governmental need for revenue. Then in 1980, once popularity? When the boomers become more irrelevant
again, consumption reached a level of abuse which to the marketplace, will millennials buy the same prod-
prompted the formation of Mothers Against Drunk Driv- ucts their parents and grandparents purchased? Through
ing, elevating the drinking age to 21 and a significant Fed- this very difficult year, it does appear that the alcohol bev-
eral Excise Tax increase. Now, with the negative economic erage industry has once again survived another crisis. If
impact of the pandemic on local businesses, and with the prohibition didn’t convince everyone that the alcohol in-
growing effectiveness and desire for e-commerce, we are dustry is indestructible, the pandemic certainly may have
once again seeing alcohol policy influenced by a deterio- put that question to rest.
rating economy. Is it possible to strike a balance in curbing
abuse and generating revenue? Moderators

■ Jeffrey Anderson, Director,
Moderators Idaho State Liquor Division
■ Gregory Mineo, Chairman-Elect NABCA ■ George Soleas, President & CEO,
Board of Directors, Director, Maine Bureau of Liquor Control Board of Ontario
Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations
■ Becky Schlauch, Administrator, Montana Panelists
Department of Revenue, Liquor Control Division ■ Mark Brown, President & CEO,

Panelists Sazerac Company, Inc.
■ Kate Latts, Chief Marketing Officer,
■ Ernest Gallo, President & Heaven Hill Brands
CEO, E & J Gallo Winery
■ John Barrett, Chief Commercial
■ John Hayes, President, USA & Canada, Officer, Pernod Ricard
Brown-Forman Corporation

■ Jerry Oliver, Sr., Professor of Practice,
Arizona State University, Retired Advisor,
Center for Alcohol Policy, Retired Police Chief