NH Alcohol Consulting Services

04/22/2026

Anyone needing some restaurant equipment for their taprooms, take a look at this auction.

01/07/2026

2026 Legislative Sessions begins. Some of the proposed bills

HB1481-FN to allow on-premise licensees to sell liquor to go.

SB524 to allow on-premise licensees to sell liquor to go

HB1673-FN to allow liquor manufacturers to sell directly to on-premise licensees.

HB1765-FN to allow beverage manufacturers to sell beverages to other beverage manufactures and to allow wine manufactures to sell wine to other wine manufactures.

SB563-FN to allow out of state wineries to sell directly to NH consumers.

HB1679-FN to create a bottle redemption law.

04/09/2024

Anyone in need of any restaurant equipment, take a look at JSJ Auction for used restaurant equipment.

03/21/2024

HB 1018 has been modified by the House Commerce on behalf of the Liquor Commission request. The amendment adds ho**ah to the cigar bar license to allow consumers to smoke ho**ah in a cigar bar. It also includes ho**ah in the cigar bar ratio of 60% revenue from the sale of ci**rs. Based on testimony, the Commission feels this amendment will resolve the issues of cigar bars not meeting the ratio.

I have conducted many cigar bar audits and unfortunately, the Commission does not understand the problem is not with sale of ho**ah but how they are operating. The ho**ah lounge will sell/rent a ho**ah to a customer for $50 and sell the person a bottle of Don Julio for $150.00. That is a 25/75 ratio no where near the required 60/40 ratio. The ho**ah lounges are more of a hip hop club than a cigar bar selling a lot more alcohol than ho**ah/ci**rs.

The state needs a night club license.

02/12/2024

HB 1624 modifies the home production of beer and wine for personal use to allow for home distilling. It is Federally illegal to distill spirits at home. The sponsor of the bill knows it is illegally Federally but wants the state to ignore Federal law. In addition, they are proposing an amendment to the bill restricting the Liquor Commission from enforcing the law for home distilling.

The law allows for beer and wine to be made for personal home use but as many people are aware that is not the case. Most hobbyists of home brewing give/trade the beer to their friends and family to take to their homes to drink. This is a violation of RSA 178:1, distributing to other.

One speaker at the public hearing wants to do home distilling before deciding if she wants to get a license and sell spirits. She wants to buy a still but does not want to be arrested for distilling spirits illegally. TTB regulations require anyone who purchases a still to register the still with TTB.

The Liquor Commission took a neutral position on the bill which is surprising that a law enforcement agency would even consider a bill that restricts them from enforcing the law. The Comm has always took a negative position on home distilling. The Comm has found people distilling at home without a license who distributed the alcohol to others and they decided not to prosecute them. Just told then "Don't".

Regardless if the state passes this bill, TTB or ATF could still arrest any person stilling spirits in NH without a license.

02/08/2024

HB 1151 modifies the Hotel license to allow guests to take alcohol from the bar area and bring it back to their rooms. Not sure how a hotel would prevent an individual taking alcohol out to their car and driving away. Hotels do not have security at all exits of the hotel to prevent someone from leaving with a glass of alcohol in their hands.

Personally, I think the law should require an employee of the hotel to bring the alcohol up to the individuals room.

01/01/2024

12/21/2023

HB 1636-FN creates a container deposit.

10 cents for containers under 24 ounces and 15 cents for containers greater than 24 ounces.

I was not able to find any exemption for alcohol. The Liquor Commission would need to develop a system to collect and refund the deposits. The liquor stores do not have the available space to store empty bottles. It will cost the Liquor Commission money to store, warehouse and ship empty bottles to recycling facilities.

This proposed bill will also cost manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to store, warehouse and ship the containers to recycling facilities.

Under RSA 178:26, if the state implements a mandatory deposit the beer tax will go from 30 cents a gallon to 18 cents a gallon. This will cost the state approximately $6,000,000 every year in lost revenue from beer tax.

12/21/2023

HB 1227 modifies RSSA 179:17 allowing on-premises licensees to stay open until 2am and with local approval stay open until 3am.

There are many pros and cons. My under days, I would have stayed out until 3am drinking. There has always been the argument that people who work late shifts would like to get a drink after work.

Many of the restaurants will not stay open until 3am, it will be more of the night clubs and hip hop clubs that will want to stay open.