New Jersey Alcoholic Beverage Market: Regulations, Statistics, Trends, and Wholesalers

New Jersey’s alcohol market is a blend of influences from large nearby cities like New York and Philadelphia. The state embraces new trends while preserving traditional practices that have been in place for decades, including protecting independent bars, restaurants, and liquor stores from being overwhelmed by large chains. Despite its small size, New Jersey’s dense population makes it a lucrative market for alcohol companies.

We’ve prepared a guide to the New Jersey market which covers the following topics:

• Consumption trends
• The most popular alcohol categories
• Local guidelines

New Jersey had an approximate population of 9.2 million people in 2022 with 6.9 million of them within the legal drinking age bracket. The state ranks sixth on the list of states that consume the most spirits and is the second-largest market in the Northeast United States.

If you need help establishing your presence in the Garden State, provide your information below, and we’ll contact you to share more on how we can help.

At Park Street, we can help anyone looking to enter the market or expand their services in New Jersey.

Consumption Trends In New Jersey

New Jersey is one of the ten largest beverage alcohol markets in the United States. In 2022, there were 65.8 million cases of beer sold, followed by 15.7 million cases of wine, and 10.3 million cases of spirits. Below you will find some charts displaying the volume growth for beer, wine, and spirits over a five-year period.

New Jersey Spirits Consumption from 2018-2022 by 9-Liter Cases

New Jersey Wine Consumption from 2015-2020 by 9-Liter Cases

New Jersey Beer Consumption from 2018-2022 by 9-Liter Cases

New Jersey State Alcohol Licensing

All U.S. states are regulated at a federal level according to the Federal Alcohol Administration Act. At a state level,  New Jersey is overseen by Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). The agency is responsible for licensing, tax collection and auditing, fee collection, and enforcing the state’s laws and regulations. The ABC oversees all tiers including:

• Manufacturers (breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, meaderies, and rectifiers)
• Wholesalers, also known as distributors
• Retailers (on-premise and off- premise)

In the simplest terms, manufacturers, sometimes referred to as producers, make the alcohol products. Wholesalers sell the alcohol to the retailers. Retailers sell the alcohol to consumers. While there are some exceptions to this flow of goods, this is the federally regulated route to market.

All businesses that deal with manufacturing, distributing, selling, or importing alcohol in New Jersey must be licensed.

As of 2022,  there were over 70 licensed distillers and bottlers, more than 120 breweries with active licenses, and over 50 wineries in the state of New Jersey.

Common Licenses for Manufacturers in New Jersey

Plenary Distillery License – entitled to manufacture any distilled alcoholic beverages and rectify, blend, treat, and mix, and to sell and distribute his products to wholesalers and retailers licensed, and to sell and distribute without this State to any persons pursuant to the laws of the places of such sale and distribution, and to maintain a warehouse. There is an unlimited volume that can be produced with this license.

Limited Distillery License – entitled to manufacture and bottle any alcoholic beverages distilled from fruit juices and rectify, blend, treat, mix, compound with wine and add necessary sweetening and flavor to make cordial or liqueur, and to sell and distribute to wholesalers and retailers licensed in accordance with this chapter, and to sell and distribute without this State to any persons pursuant to the laws of the places of such sale and distribution and to warehouse these products.

Supplementary Limited Distillery License – entitled to bottle and rebottle, alcoholic beverages distilled from fruit juices by such holder pursuant to a prior plenary or limited distillery license, and to sell and distribute his products to wholesalers and retailers licensed in accordance with this chapter, and to sell and distribute without this State to any persons pursuant to the laws of the places of such sale and distribution, and to maintain a warehouse.

Craft Distillery License – may produce up to 20,000 gallons of distilled alcoholic beverages, to rectify, blend, treat and mix distilled alcoholic beverages for sale and distribution within and outside of New Jersey and maintain a warehouse. Included in this license is the ability to sell directly to consumers at retail on the licensed premises (off-premise) but only for the purpose of a tour and not exceeding 5 quarts per person.

New Jersey State Alcohol Regulations

New Jersey is an open state, meaning the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages is handled by private entities but still regulated by state legislators.

Franchise State

New Jersey is a Franchise State, which means that certain laws protect alcohol beverage distributors and prevent their suppliers from terminating distribution contracts unless good cause is shown, among other requirements.

Shipping and Selling to Consumers

In New Jersey, craft distillers and retailers may serve or deliver alcohol to consumers if certain conditions are met. Below is a breakdown of these specific distribution and sales regulations:

Craft Distillery:

• Must produce 20,000 gallons or less per year
• Can sell to consumers on licensed premises
• Sales to consumers must be only for the purpose of a tour and not exceeding 5 quarts per person

Retailers:

• May deliver alcoholic beverages directly to a customer’s home after purchase
• May utilize Third-Party Delivery Permittees to deliver alcoholic beverages in original containers or cocktails-to-go

Self-Pitch Distribution Model

Finding the right distributor is often cited as one of the most difficult challenges to building a brand in the U.S. There are thousands of brands and industry consolidation has led to fewer distribution companies to choose from in each market.

As such, one option available to emerging brands is to use Park Street’s self-pitch distribution model.

The self-pitch distribution model is similar to the three-tier traditional distribution model where product is delivered
to retailers, but the key difference is that sales and marketing is handled by the supplier.

Park Street’s CEO Explains Self-Pitch Distribution

Required Procedures for Alcohol Suppliers Selling in New Jersey

Label Registration

All alcohol products sold in New Jersey must have a label registration approved by the New Jersey ABC in order to ensure products are in compliance with federal and state label regulations. Suppliers may register for a fee of $23.00 for each new brand/type filed.

Price Posting

Price posting is required at the retail level but is not required at a wholesale level.

Wholesale

• The state of New Jersey does not require any price posting at the wholesale level.

Retail

• Retail prices must be submitted by the 15th of the current month to be active by the 1st of the following month.

New Jersey Spirits Volume By Category – 2022 data

Spirit trends in New Jersey by volume and dollar sales in 2022.

Source: Beverage Information Group

New Jersey Wine Volume Sales By Category – 2022 Data

Wine trends in New Jersey by volume sales in 2022

Source: Beverage Information Group

New Jersey Beer Volume Sales By Category – 2022 Data

Beer trends in New Jersey by volume sales in 2022

Source: Beverage Information Group

Beer Distributors

Coming Soon

Buying Alcohol In New Jersey – Hours, Locations & Taxes

The laws for purchasing alcohol may differ between cities in New Jersey, but statewide laws are in place. If you want to learn about these laws, please read on as we answer common questions about buying beer, wine, and spirits in New Jersey.

FAQs on Buying Beer, Wine & Liquor in New Jersey

Here at Park Street we connect wholesalers with distributors and provide many types of services that allow you to focus on building your brand while we handle the rest! If you’re interested in learning more about our services, please feel free to complete the form below and a member of our client development team will be in touch within 24 hours.