Alcoholic beverage licensees: winegrowers and beer manufacturers.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides for the issuance of various categories of alcoholic beverage licenses, including the imposition of fees, conditions, and restrictions in connection with the issuance of those licenses. Existing law prohibits a licensee to have upon the licensed premises any alcoholic beverages other than the alcoholic beverage for which the licensee is authorized to sell at the premises under his or her license. Existing law provides that a violation of this prohibition is punishable as a misdemeanor and authorizes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to seize any alcoholic beverages found in violation of this prohibition. This bill would authorize an exception to the above-described prohibition by allowing a licensed winegrower and a licensed beer manufacturer that holds a small beer manufacturer's license, whose licensed premises of production are immediately adjacent to each other and which are not branch offices, to, with the approval of the department, share a common licensed area in which the consumption of alcoholic beverages is permitted under specified circumstances.