(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, a licensed craft distiller or one or more of its direct or indirect subsidiaries of which the licensed craft distiller owns not less than a 51-percent interest, who manufactures or produces, bottles, processes, imports, or sells distilled spirits under a craft distiller’s license or any other license issued pursuant to this division, or any officer or director of, or any person holding any interest in, those persons may serve as an officer or director of, and may hold the ownership of any interest or any financial or representative relationship in, any on-sale license, or the business conducted under that license, provided that, except in the case of a holder of on-sale general licenses for airplanes and duplicate on-sale general licenses for air common carriers, all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The on-sale licensee purchases all alcoholic beverages sold and served only from California wholesale licensees.
(2) The number of distilled spirits items by brand offered for sale by the on-sale licensee that are manufactured, produced, bottled, processed, imported, or sold by the licensed craft distiller or by the subsidiary of which the licensed craft distiller owns not less than 51 percent, or by any officer or director of, or by any person holding any interest in, those persons does not exceed 15 percent of the total distilled spirits items by brand listed and offered for sale by the on-sale licensee selling and serving that distilled spirit. Notwithstanding paragraph (1), distilled spirits sold pursuant to this provision may be purchased from a California licensed craft distiller so long as the distilled spirits purchased are produced or bottled by, or produced and packaged for, the same licensed craft distiller that holds an interest in the on-sale license and such direct sales do not involve more than two on-sale licenses in which the licensed craft distiller or any person holding an interest in the licensed craft distiller holds any interest, directly or indirectly, either individually or in combination or together with each other in the aggregate.
(3) None of the persons specified in this section may have any of the interests specified in this section in more than two on-sale licenses.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, a licensee that has an interest in one or more on-sale retail licenses pursuant to this section may continue to hold that interest in the event the licensee no longer qualifies as a craft distiller, provided that the interest was held, or an application was pending, at a time when the licensee did hold a craft distiller’s license pursuant to Section 23502. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to prevent the department from denying a pending application for any reason other than the change in license of the licensee.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 423, Sec. 4. (AB 2913) Effective January 1, 2017.)