A bill recently signed into law by the governor should help clear up the rules for delivering alcohol to people outside a retail business. Iowa Department of Alcoholic Beverages Division spokesperson, Tonya Dusold, says the deliveries have been allowed for 30-years, but the rules got changed in an effort aimed at helping wineries.
Dusold says the legislature set up rules for wine shipping last year, which inadvertently made it illegal to deliver wine or any alcoholic beverage in any other way. She says the change this year clarifies the rules so businesses could continue deliveries like they have in the past.
Dusold says the change impacted parties were beer was going to be served. She says it mainly involved businesses that were going to deliver kegs to a wedding reception, or smaller businesses that would deliver wine in a gift basket. Dusold says the rules do set up some clear guidelines for the deliveries.
Dusold says the business can take orders anytime, but the delivery has to be made before 10 p.m., and the delivery driver has to be 21. The law also requires that the company to keep the delivery records that include the signature of the recipient and quantity of alcohol for three years so those records could be review if there was a problem.
She says the record requirement gives them a way to trace the source if there was an accident or some other incident following a party or other event where the alcohol was delivered. Dusold says for instance, if they find alcohol was delivered to a party where everyone was underage, they could determine who bought the alcohol.
She says it is similar to the way the keg registration system works. The new law takes effect on July first.