liquor rep
You ever notice your liquor rep went from “I’ll be there at 9am sharp with six cases and a handshake” to “we only deliver Tuesdays between 11:03 and 11:09 am now, figure it out”?
Yeah. That ain’t just laziness, that’s desperation.
Big Liquor is on the ropes. Routes are getting cut. Drop-offs are down. Layoffs are creeping through distributors like a silent hangover. Hell, one bartender told me their rep ghosted them like an ex with a guilty conscience. This ain’t random.
It’s weed.
Cannabis and Hemp are eating their lunch, stealing their dates, and rocking their varsity jackets.
Meanwhile, beer and liquor sales are taking body shots from reality and not getting back up.
And now? Booze is begging for help, in the form of legislation.
SB1622 & HB2556:
Self-distribution caps for small brewers raised from 6,200 to 77,500 gallons (that’s a 12x jump)
Aggregate caps now 232,500 gallons, which, let’s be honest, doesn’t scream “local craft” anymore
Special event licenses can now sell on- and off-site
Loyalty programs and mug clubs are now legal as long as you don’t undercut cost
Translation: “Please let us sell more and act like Costco so people remember we exist.”
HB3107:
Removes production caps for wine producers
Adds a third retail site per license
Translation: “Let us scale like a startup and call it 'artisanal.’”
HB1019:
Drops legal drinking age to 18 with a parent present, even in bars
Translation: “Hemp’s got the 18–21 demo. Let’s make vodka family-friendly.”
Daily cannabis use overtook daily alcohol use in America.
That sound you hear? It’s a thousand liquor execs quietly choking on their own product margins.
So Illinois is loosening up the rules like it’s Spring Break in Daytona, but this isn’t about progress. It’s about panic.
And not panic for the people, it’s panic for the legacy industry.
Liquor’s losing market share, street cred, and Gen Z loyalty all at once. Anyone see this BORG trend?
So the strategy now?
Desperately try to match cannabis’s flexibility, branding, and cultural cool.
And while they tweak laws for them just know this:
Your late delivery isn’t your bar manager’s fault.
It’s because your local distributor is running on a skeleton crew and praying infused drinks don’t go viral again this weekend.
If this trend keeps going, don’t be surprised if your whiskey rep shows up in joggers and a hoodie talking about terpenes and offering to throw in a Delta-8 sample "on the house."
Wow I guess they’re F'nAround now to keep up. catch up with us at fnaround.com
HB 1019 https://lnkd.in/gnwrMeYb
SB1622 https://lnkd.in/g5ENn6Mh
HB2556 https://lnkd.in/gqaeKWWj
HB3107 https://lnkd.in/guyWRQiV