In just the first week, the Illinois Ship My Spirits campaign, launched to support legislation permitting spirits direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping, has resulted in more than 1,250 letters of support to Illinois legislators.
The Ship My Spirits campaign kicked off on Tuesday, March 21, with the goal of modernizing the spirits marketplace by allowing direct-to-consumer shipping of distilled spirits in Illinois. The campaign was launched by the American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA), American Distilling Institute (ADI), Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and Illinois Craft Distillers Association.
“We are proud to have generated so many letters to legislators in such a short time frame,” said Nick Nagele, vice president of the Illinois Craft Distillers Association. “This engagement from Illinois consumers just further proves the demand we know exists for spirits direct-to-consumer shipping. We hope our lawmakers will take notice of this growing groundswell and work to make spirits direct-to-consumer shipping a reality.”
The Illinois Legislature is currently considering two bills sponsored by state Senator Celina Villanueva and state Representative Kevin Olickal which would allow distillers to ship their spirits products directly to adult consumers just as wineries have done for more than three decades in the state.
ACSA, ADI and DISCUS formed the Ship My Spirits coalition in March 2022.
“We are seeing movement on direct-to-consumer shipping legislation across the nation as legislators seek to modernize these laws to increase convenience for spirits consumers and provide equal growth opportunities for distillers,” said the coalition. “While wine shipments have been around for more than three decades, spirits producers have been excluded from this vital market access channel. There is no good reason for that, and it is time states like Illinois allowed direct-to-consumer shipping for all alcohol producers, not just some.”
ShipMySpirits.org, the coalition’s website, has an interactive map where consumers can click on their state to learn about the laws regulating spirits shipments and other data related to the spirit industry’s impact in the state. The site highlights that the spirits industry supports more than 79,000 jobs in Illinois and has an economic impact of more than $7.8 billion.
Visitors can take action through the site by sending letters to their legislators on the issue in less than three minutes.