On November 22, the Chicago Tribune quoted Ashley Brandt in its article discussing small retailers’ contentions that they are denied access to some of the rarest and most popular beer brands because of their inability to sell enough product.

Ashley noted that there are laws against requiring retailers to offer one product in order to access others, which is known as a “tie-in,” as well as laws requiring that retailers have equal access to products. Still, there is nothing to prohibit certain retailers from reaping the rewards of increased access to products.

“If a distributor makes a unilateral decision to reward people with the limited quantity they’ve got, it’s hard to prove that’s a full-on tie-in,” Ashley explained. “Breweries getting involved implicates the issues that the three-tiered system is supposed to stop, such as the brewer having undue influence over the retailer.”

Read the article here.