Rupe, 121718 NEAGO, AGO 18-010

• Case Date: December 17, 2018
• Court: Nebraska

Hobert Rupe, Executive Director AGO 18-010 No. 18-010 Nebraska Attorney General Opinion State of Nebraska office of the Attorney General December 17, 2018          SUBJECT :Whether an entity which has received both Class "Y" (Farm Winery) and Class "L" (Craft Brewery) licenses issued by the Liquor Control Commission may obtain an additional retail license to sell alcoholic products not produced at the farm winery or craft brewery.          REQUESTED BY: Hobert Rupe, Executive Director, Nebraska Liquor Control Commission          WRITTEN BY: Douglas J. Peterson, Attorney General, Milissa Johnson-Wiles, Assistant Attorney General          You have requested an opinion from our office asking whether an entity which has received both Class "Y" (farm winery) and Class "L" (craft brewery) liquor licenses issued by the Liquor Control Commission ("Commission") may obtain a retail license to sell other alcoholic products not produced at the licensed locations. As stated in your request, the Commission has granted some Class "L" licenses to the holders of Class "Y" licenses, but has restricted the ability to obtain an additional retail license, based on the reasoning found in Attorney General Opinion #06002 issued in 2006, that Class "Y" licensees may not obtain a retail license to sell product not produced at the farm winery. We conclude that the answer is "no."          As the Commission is aware, farm wineries were first authorized by the Nebraska Legislature in 1985. The statutory provision related to farm wineries, Neb. Rev. Stat. §53-123.11 (Cum. Supp. 2016), provides that the holder of a farm winery license is entitled to do certain things, but as previously expressed in Opinion #06002, the list is not unlimited. The Liquor Control Act does not authorize the holder of a Class "Y" license to obtain a retail liquor license to sell product not produced at the winery. Amendments made to § 53-123.11 since that opinion was issued have not expanded the entitlements of a Class Y license holder to that degree, and our analysis has not changed.          As the Commission is also aware, craft breweries, once known as "brew pubs," were...