2023 Tennessee Code › Title 57 - INTOXICATING LIQUORS (§§ 57-1-101 — 57-10-102) › Chapter 3 - LOCAL OPTION-TRAFFIC IN INTOXICATING LIQUORS (§§ 57-3-101 — 57-3-1103) › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 57-3-101 — 57-3-112) › Section 57-3-101 - Title definitions

(a)
As used in this title, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1)
(A)
"Alcoholic beverage" or "beverage" means and includes alcohol, spirits, liquor, wine, high alcohol content beer, and every liquid containing alcohol, spirits, wine, and high alcohol content beer and capable of being consumed by a human being, other than patent medicine or beer, as defined in §
57-5-101
. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this title, except for beer as defined in §
57-5-101(b)
, "alcoholic beverage" or "beverage" also includes any liquid product containing distilled alcohol capable of being consumed by a human being, manufactured or made with distilled alcohol, regardless of alcohol content. Liquid products intended for beverage purposes containing alcohol that do not meet the definition of beer under §
57-5-101(b)
shall also be alcoholic beverages. Notwithstanding this subdivision (a)(1)(A), products or beverages containing less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) alcohol by volume, other than wine as defined in this section, shall not be considered to be alcoholic beverages, and shall not be subject to regulation or taxation pursuant to chapters 1-6 and 9 of this title.
(B)
Notwithstanding this definition, ethanol produced in a facility whose production process is primarily a wet milling process in bulk and sold and transported in bulk lots of five thousand gallons (5,000 gals.) or more and not packaged for retail sale by the holder of a valid alcohol fuels permit or a valid distilled spirits permit:
(i)
For export to another country;
(ii)
To a domestic manufacturer, distiller, vintner, or rectifier who is a duly licensed alcohol beverage or liquor manufacturer in this or some other state; or
(iii)
To a manufacturer who uses the ethanol to create a product which is incapable of human consumption or contains less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) alcohol by volume;
shall not be considered to be an alcoholic beverage and shall not be subject to regulation or taxation pursuant to chapters 1-6 and 9 of this title;
(2)
(A)
"Alternating proprietorship agreement" means an agreement between two (2) or more licensed manufacturers to share all or a portion of a bonded or general premises, or both, pursuant to §
57-3-202(m)
;
(B)
"Alternating proprietorship agreement" means an agreement between two (2) or more licensed wineries to share all or a portion of a bonded or general premises, or both, pursuant to §
57-3-207(y)
;
(3)
"Commission" means the alcoholic beverage commission, except as otherwise provided;
(4)
"Distiller" means any person who owns, occupies, carries on, works, conducts or operates any distillery either personally or by an agent;
(5)
"Distillery" means and includes any place or premises wherein any liquors are manufactured for sale;
(6)
"Federal license" does not mean tax receipt or permit;
(7)
"Gallon" or "gallons" means a wine gallon or wine gallons, of one hundred and twenty-eight ounces (128 oz.);
(8)
"Gift" means and includes the unauthorized distribution of alcoholic beverages by a licensee for which no payment is expected or received; provided, however, that it does not include any such transaction between a licensee and its employee or employees in the normal course of employment or depletions from a licensee's inventory related to routine business or marketing purposes where all applicable taxes have been paid;
(9)
"High alcohol content beer" means an alcoholic beverage which is beer, ale or other malt beverage having an alcoholic content of more than eight percent (8%) by weight and not more than twenty percent (20%) by weight, except wine as defined in §
57-3-101
, that is brewed, regulated, distributed or sold pursuant to chapter 3 of this title; provided, that no more than forty-nine percent (49%) of the overall alcoholic content of such beverage may be derived from the addition of flavors and other nonbeverage ingredients containing alcohol;
(10)
"Importer" means any person or entity holding a non-manufacturer non-resident seller's permit pursuant to §
57-3-602(c)
or any entity causing alcoholic beverages to be delivered or shipped into this state holding an importer's basic permit from the alcohol and tobacco tax and trade bureau of the United States department of the treasury;
(11)
"License" means the license issued pursuant to this chapter;
(12)
"Licensee" means any person to whom such license has been issued pursuant to this chapter;
(13)
"Manufacture" means and includes brewing high alcohol content beer, distilling, rectifying and operating a winery;
(14)
"Manufacturer" means and includes a brewer of high alcohol content beer, distiller, vintner and rectifier;
(15)
(A)
"Municipality" means an incorporated town or city having a population of:
(i)
Seven hundred (700) or more, according to the 2010 federal census or a subsequent federal census; or
(ii)
Not less than five hundred seventy (570) nor more than six hundred ninety-nine (699), according to the 2020 federal census or a subsequent federal census, and that employs a full-time police department; and
(B)
When an incorporated town or city by ordinance authorizes a census to be taken of such incorporated town or city and provides the commission with a certified copy of the census containing the name, address, age, and sex of each person enumerated therein, and if the census shows that the incorporated town or city meets the requirements of subdivision (a)(15)(A), the commission, upon verification of the census and the existence of a full-time police department, if applicable, may declare such incorporated town or city to be a "municipality" for the purposes of this chapter;
(16)
"Pint" means one-eighth (1/8) of a wine gallon;
(17)
"Quart" means one-fourth (1/4) of a wine gallon;
(18)
"Rectifier" means and includes any person who rectifies, purifies or refines distilled spirits or wines by any process other than as provided for on distillery premises, and every person who, without rectifying, purifying or refining distilled spirits, shall, by mixing such spirits, wine or other liquor with any material, manufacture any imitation of, or compounds liquors for sale under the name of, whiskey, brandy, gin, rum, wine, spirits, cordials, bitters or any other name;
(19)
"Retail food store wine license" means a license for the sale of wine at retail in a retail food store as defined in part 8 of this chapter;
(20)
"Retailer" means any person who sells at retail any beverage for the sale of which a license is required under this chapter;
(21)
"Retail sale" or "sale at retail" means a sale to a consumer or to any person for any purpose other than for resale; provided, however, that it does not include any transaction between a licensee and its employee or employees in the normal course of employment for which no payment is expected or received or depletions from a licensee's inventory related to routine business or marketing purposes where all applicable taxes have been paid;
(22)
"Vintner" means any person who owns, occupies, carries on, works, conducts or operates any winery, either personally or by an agent;
(23)
"Wholesaler" means any person who sells at wholesale any beverage for the sale of which a license is required under this chapter;
(24)
"Wholesale sale" or "sale at wholesale" means a sale to any person for purposes of resale, except that sales by a person licensed under §
57-3-204
to a charitable, nonprofit, or political organization possessing a valid special occasion license for resale by such organizations pursuant to their special occasion license shall not be construed as such a sale;
(25)
"Wine" means the product of the normal alcoholic fermentation of the juice of dried or fresh, sound, ripe grapes, fruit, or other agricultural products, with the usual cellar treatment and necessary additions to correct defects due to climatic, saccharine, and seasonal conditions, including champagne, sparkling, and fortified wine of an alcoholic content not to exceed twenty-one percent (21%) by volume. No other product may be called "wine" unless designated by appropriate prefixes descriptive of the fruit or other product from which the same was predominantly produced, or as an artificial or imitation wine; and
(26)
"Winery" means and includes any place or premises wherein wines are manufactured from any fruit or brandies distilled as the by-product of wine or other fruit or cordials compounded, and also includes a winery for the manufacture of wine.
(b)
Words importing the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter, and the singular includes the plural.
Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 236, s 1, eff. 4/25/2023.
Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 109, s 1, eff. 4/4/2023.
Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 95, s 1, eff. 3/31/2023.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 689, s 1, eff. 3/28/2022.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 426, s 1, eff. 5/12/2021.
Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 269, s 1, eff. 4/24/2015.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 767, s 3, eff. 5/1/2014.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 554, s 6, eff. 7/1/2014.
Acts 1939, ch. 49, §§ 3, 4, 13; 1949, ch. 284, § 9; C. Supp. 1950, §§ 6648.4, 6648.19 (Williams, §§ 6648.6, 6648.7, 6648.16); Acts 1955, ch. 347, § 2A; impl. am. Acts 1959, ch. 9, § 14; Acts 1963, ch. 257, § 11; modified; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 57-106; Acts 1981, ch. 404, § 4; 1982, ch. 877, § 5; 1983, ch. 229, § 4; 1986, ch. 516, § 1; 1989, ch. 325, § 1; 1991, ch. 58, § 1; 1997 , ch. 155, § 2; 2005, ch. 298, § 1; 2009 , ch. 395, §§ 1, 2; 2011 , ch. 448, §§ 7-11.