Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board decided not to hold a vote on a proposed increase to their central warehouse bailment fee during their meeting Thursday.
“I have talked with a number of industry reps and a number of legislators…what I want to do is I want to gather some more information and take a look at this a little further so I’m going to ask the board to just carry this over again, and we’ll bring it back up at a later date,” ABC Board administrator Curtis Stewart said.
The Board already passed an increase in October of 2025, raising the fee from $.72 to $1.00 per case, a nearly 40% jump. This newest proposal was to raise it again to $1.50 by 2028.
The ABC Board is in the process of constructing a new, $98 million dollar Montgomery warehouse that will replace the board’s existing facilities, which board administrator Curtis Stewart said are too small. Stewart claimed the fee increase will help pay for the warehouse, which is being built by the Retirement Systems of Alabama.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and the American Distilled Spirits Alliance (ADSA) are opposed to the increase. The groups sent a letter to Stewart Wednesday, asking him to reconsider the move.
“If the proposed increases are adopted, the fee will have increased three times in three years, at a moment when the distilled spirits industry is facing slowing growth, extreme rising costs, and increased economic headwinds,” the letter said.
The letter also noted that Alabama already has the fourth-highest per-gallon spirits tax in the country at $22.87 – trailing only Washington, Oregon and Virginia, and the third-highest among control states. Neighboring states charge far less: Tennessee ($4.46), Georgia ($3.79), Florida ($6.50) and Mississippi ($9.38), according to the letter.
The groups pushed back on Stewart’s rationale that the increases reflect inflation, arguing “ABC already benefits when product prices rise in an inflationary environment; ABC revenues naturally increase with prices.”
They also argued that the ABC Board has not given a good enough reason to increase the rate.
“The Alabama ABC has not shown sufficient justification for a cumulative increase of this magnitude on bailment fees that fall exclusively on the spirits industry,” they said. “To this point, we respectfully ask the Board to pause any additional scheduled increases and continue engaging with industry stakeholders to identify a more balanced approach that supports the ABC’s operational needs while preserving consumer choice and the long-term health of Alabama’s spirits marketplace.”
The letter also raised a timing concern, arguing that locking in increases through 2028 would bind Alabama’s next gubernatorial administration to a policy set before the incoming governor takes office.
State Sen. Chris Elliott was one of many lawmakers who strongly opposed the last increase, arguing and increase like that should be approved by the Legislature.
“This is not something that the Legislature has approved,” Elliot said at the time. “Rather, it’s something they’re doing on their own through their rulemaking authority to make up for increased profit for them, for a new building… Show me where, either in a published report or a document to the Legislature, that they said they were going to do this prior to asking for approval.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
