Regulatory Roulette is... for the children?
Plus: The rise and fall of the beloved beer ball!
Editor’s note: Hello and welcome to Lobby Time, Fingers’ weekly overview of booze-related legislative moves around the country, published exclusively for paid subscribers. (Buy a subscription now to read this and all my coverage.) I’m piloting a new format for this paid-only feature, but my aim for now is to publish it in this Tuesday slot for the next couple months and see how it goes. Reply directly to this email or hit the comments to let me know what you think!—Dave.
For the past nine months, the boozeletter has been covering the chaotic soft-to-hard alcopop redemption arc through the lens of potential political backlash in a recurring item called Fingers Regulatory Roulette. Brought to you by our generous and very-real partner, Boozeletter Bookmaking LLC, each installation of Fingers Regulatory Roulette sets odds on which beverage-alcohol product (Twisted Tea Rocket Pop, SweetWater Gummies, Welch’s Craft Cocktails, etc.) is most likely to finally provoke policymakers to fuck the entire booze business with the long dick of the law over allegations of marketing to children.
But I never considered a scenario wherein children themselves were signaling to the legislative pit boss. Until now.