3. Definitions. Whenever used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
1. "Alcoholic beverage" or "beverage" mean and include alcohol, spirits, liquor, wine, beer, cider and every liquid, solid, powder or crystal, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine or beer and capable of being consumed by a human being, and any warehouse receipt, certificate, contract or other document pertaining thereto; except that confectionery containing alcohol as provided by subdivision twelve of section two hundred of the agriculture and markets law and ice cream and other frozen desserts made with wine as provided in subdivision fifteen of section two hundred of the agriculture and markets law shall not be regulated as an "alcoholic beverage" or "beverage" within the meaning of this section where the sale, delivery or giving away is to a person aged twenty-one years or older. The sale, delivery or giving away of ice cream made with wine to a person under the age of twenty-one years may be prosecuted administratively and/or criminally in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
2. "Alcohol" means ethyl alcohol, hydrated oxide of ethyl or spirit of wine from whatever source or by whatever processes produced.
3. "Beer" means and includes any fermented beverages of any name or description manufactured from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute therefor.
3-a. "Biomass feedstock" shall mean any substance, other than oil, natural gas, coal, shale or products derived from any of these which is capable of being converted into alcohol, including but not be limited to wood and other forest materials, animal manure, municipal wastes, food crops and other agricultural materials.
3-b. "Bona fide retailer association" shall mean an association of retailers holding licenses under this chapter, organized under the non-profit or not-for-profit laws of this state, and possessing a federal tax exemption under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States.
4. "Brewery" means and includes any place or premises where beer is manufactured for sale; and all offices, granaries, mashrooms, cooling-rooms, vaults, yards, and storerooms connected therewith or where any part of the process of manufacture of beer is carried on, or where any apparatus connected with such manufacture is kept or used, or where any of the products of brewing or fermentation are stored or kept, shall be deemed to be included in and to form part of the brewery to which they are attached or are appurtenant.
5. "Brewer" means any person who owns, occupies, carries on, works, or conducts any brewery, either by himself or by his agent.
6. "Board" or "local board" or "appropriate board" or "board having jurisdiction" shall mean the state liquor authority.
7. "Building containing licensed premises" shall include the licensed premises and also any part of a building in which such premises is contained and any part of any other building connected with such building by direct access or by a common entrance.
7-a. "Catering establishment" means and includes any premises owned or operated by any person, firm, association, partnership or corporation who or which regularly and in a bona fide manner furnishes for hire therein one or more ballrooms, reception rooms, dining rooms, banquet halls, dancing halls or similar places of assemblage for a particular function, occasion or event and/or who or which furnishes provisions and service for consumption or use at such function, occasion or event. Such premises must have suitable and adequate facilities and accommodations to provide food and service for not less than fifty persons at any one function, occasion or event and shall in no event be deemed to include any taxi dance hall or any other premises at which public dances are regularly scheduled to be held daily, weekly or monthly and to which the general public is invited.
7-b. (a) "Cider" means the partially or fully fermented juice of fresh, whole apples or other pome fruits, containing more than three and two-tenths per centum but not more than eight and one-half per centum alcohol by volume: (i) to which nothing has been added to increase the alcoholic content produced by natural fermentation; and (ii) with the usual cellar treatments and necessary additions to correct defects due to climate, saccharine levels and seasonal conditions. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be deemed to preclude the use of such methods or materials as may be necessary to encourage a normal alcoholic fermentation and to make a product that is free of microbiological activity at the time of sale. Cider may be sweetened or flavored after fermentation with fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, sugar, maple syrup, honey, spices or other agricultural products, separately or in combination. Cider may contain retained or added carbon dioxide.
(b) In the event that an alcoholic beverage meets the definition of both a cider, as defined in this subdivision, and a wine, as defined in subdivision thirty-six of this section, the brand or trade name label owner of such alcoholic beverage shall designate whether such alcoholic beverage shall be sold as a cider or a wine for all purposes under this chapter.
7-c. "Cidery" means and includes any place or premises wherein cider is manufactured for sale.
7-d. "Farm cidery" means and includes any place or premises, located on a farm in New York state, in which New York state labelled cider is manufactured, stored and sold, or any other place or premises in New York state in which New York state labelled cider is manufactured, stored and sold.
8. "Convicted" and "conviction" include and mean a finding of guilt resulting from a plea of guilty, the decision of a court or magistrate or the verdict of a jury, irrespective of the pronouncement of judgment or the suspension thereof.
9. "Club" shall mean an organization of persons incorporated pursuant to the provisions of the not-for-profit corporation law or the benevolent orders law, which is the owner, lessee or occupant of a building used exclusively for club purposes, and which does not traffic in alcoholic beverages for profit and is operated solely for a recreational, social, patriotic, political, benevolent or athletic purpose but not for pecuniary gain; except that where such club is located in an office or business building, or state armory, it may be licensed as such provided it otherwise qualifies as a "club" within the meaning of this subdivision. A "luncheon club" shall mean a club which is open only on week days during the hours between eleven o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon. A "member" of a club shall mean a person who whether a charter member or admitted in agreement with the by-laws of the club, has become a bona fide member thereof, who maintains his or her membership by the payment of his or her annual dues in a bona fide manner in accordance with the by-laws and whose name and address is entered on the list of members; or in the case of a veterans club where a person has in his or her possession an identification card indicating his or her membership in the national veterans' organization with which the club at which he or she is present is affiliated. For the purposes of this section a veterans club shall include but not be limited to the Grand Army of the Republic, the United Spanish War Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Inc., the Catholic War Veterans, Inc., the Italian American War Veterans of the United States, Incorporated, the Polish Legion of American Veterans, Inc., the Marine Corps League, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Inc., the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, American Veterans of World War II, Masonic War Veterans of the State of New York, Inc., Veterans of World War I of the United States of America Department of New York, Inc., China-Burma-India Veterans Association, Inc., Polish-American Veterans of World War II, the Sons of Union Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, the Sons of the American Legion, or the American Legion Auxiliary. In the case of a chapter or lodge of a not-for-profit corporation or a benevolent order qualifying as an organization described in section 501(c)(8) or 501(c)(10) of the United States internal revenue code, a member of another chapter or lodge of such not-for-profit corporation or benevolent order who has in his or her possession an identification card or other proof of membership shall be deemed to be a member. A club and a luncheon club shall appoint an alcoholic beverage officer from among its members who shall be responsible for filing all applications and other documents required to be submitted to the authority. The person appointed alcoholic beverage officer shall be subject to approval by the authority.
9-a. "Custom crush facility" means a licensed winery or farm winery which obtains grapes, fruits and other plants grown exclusively in New York state from, or on behalf of, other licensed wineries or farm wineries and crushes, processes, ferments, bottles or conducts any combination of such services for such other licensed wineries or farm wineries.
10. "Distiller" means any person who owns, occupies, carries on, works, conducts or operates any distillery either by himself or by his agent.
11. "Distillery" means and includes any place or premises wherein any liquors are manufactured for sale.
11-a. "Farm distillery" means and includes any place or premises located on a farm in New York state in which liquor is manufactured and sold, or any other place or premises in New York state in which liquor is manufactured primarily from farm and food products, as defined in subdivision two of section two hundred eighty-two of the agriculture and markets law, and such liquor is sold.
12. "Drug store" means a place registered by the New York state board of pharmacy for the sale of drugs.
12-a. "Farm winery" means and includes any place or premises, located on a farm in New York state, in which wine is manufactured and sold.
12-aa. "Farm" means the land, buildings and equipment used to produce, prepare and market crops, livestock and livestock products as a commercial enterprise. A farm may consist of one or more parcels of owned or rented land, which parcels may be contiguous or noncontiguous to each other.
12-aaa. "Farm brewery" means and includes any place or premises, located on a farm in New York state, in which New York state labelled beer is manufactured, stored and sold, or any other place or premises in New York state in which New York state labelled beer is manufactured, stored and sold.
12-b. "Felony" shall mean any criminal offense classified as a felony under the laws of this state or any criminal offense committed in any other state, district, or territory of the United States and classified as a felony therein which if committed within this state, would constitute a felony in this state.
12-c. "Government agency" means any department, division, board, bureau, commission, office, agency, authority or public corporation of the state or federal government or a county, city, town or village government within the state.
13. "Grocery store" means any retail establishment where foodstuffs are regularly and customarily sold in a bona fide manner for the consumption off the premises.
14. "Hotel" shall mean a building which is regularly used and kept open as such in bona fide manner for the feeding and lodging of guests, where all who conduct themselves properly and who are able and ready to pay for such services are received if there be accommodations for them. The term "hotel" shall also include an apartment hotel wherein apartments are rented for fixed periods of time, either furnished or unfurnished, where the keeper of such hotel regularly supplies food to the occupants thereof in a restaurant located in such hotel. "Hotel" shall also mean and include buildings (commonly called a motel) upon the same lot of land and owned or in possession under a lease in writing by the same person or firm who maintains such buildings for the lodging of guests and supplies them with food from a restaurant located upon the same premises.
14-a. "Custom beermakers' center" means a facility that provides one or more individuals with rental space, the use of equipment and storage facilities, and/or beer making supplies to manufacture beer for personal household use and not for resale in accordance with state and federal laws, rules, and regulations.
14-b. "Custom cidermakers' center" means a facility that provides one or more individuals with rental space, the use of equipment and storage facilities, and/or fruit to manufacture cider for personal household use and not for resale in accordance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations.
14-c. "Custom winemakers' center" means a facility that provides one or more individuals with rental space, the use of equipment and storage facilities, and/or fruit to manufacture wine for personal household use and not for resale in accordance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations.
15. "Liquor authority" and "authority" mean the state liquor authority provided for in this chapter.
17. "License" means a license issued pursuant to this chapter.
17-a. "Seven day license" means a license issued pursuant to this chapter and where the off premise retail license holder may remain open to the consumer all seven days of the week.
18. "Licensee" means any person to whom a license has been issued pursuant to this chapter.
19. "Liquor" means and includes any and all distilled or rectified spirits, brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, cordials or similar distilled alcoholic beverages, including all dilutions and mixtures of one or more of the foregoing.
20. "Manufacturer" means and includes a distiller, brewer, vintner and rectifier; "Manufacture" means and includes distilling, rectifying, brewing and operating a winery.
20-a. "New York state labelled wine" means wine made from grapes or other fruits, at least seventy-five percent the volume of which were grown in New York state.
20-b. "Micro-winery" means and includes any place or premises located on a farm in New York state in which wine or cider is manufactured and sold.
20-c. "New York state labelled liquor" means liquors made from fruit, vegetables, grain and grain products, honey, maple sap or other agricultural products, at least seventy-five percent the volume of which were grown or produced in New York state.
20-d. "New York state labelled beer" means:
(a) from the effective date of this subdivision until December thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, beer made with no less than twenty percent, by weight, of its hops grown in New York state and no less than twenty percent, by weight, of all of its other ingredients, excluding water, grown in New York state;
(b) from January first, two thousand nineteen until December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-three, beer made with no less than sixty percent, by weight, of its hops grown in New York state and no less than sixty percent, by weight, of all of its other ingredients, excluding water, grown in New York state; and
(c) from January first, two thousand twenty-four and thereafter, beer made with no less than ninety percent, by weight, of its hops grown in New York state and no less than ninety percent, by weight, of all of its other ingredients, excluding water, grown in New York state.
20-e. "New York state labelled cider" means cider made exclusively from apples or other pome fruits grown in New York state.
21. "Permittee" means any person to whom a permit has been issued pursuant to this chapter.
22. "Person" includes an individual, copartnership, corporations, society, joint stock company, alcoholic beverage officer appointed by a club or a luncheon club or limited liability company.
23. "Population" means the number of inhabitants as determined by the last preceding federal census.
24. "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 water or any materials, manufactures any imitation of or compounds liquors for sale under the name of whiskey, brandy, gin, rum, wine, spirits, cordials, bitters or any other name.
25. "Retail sale" or "sale at retail" means a sale to a consumer or to any person for any purpose other than for resale.
26. "Retailer" means any person who sells at retail any beverage for the sale of which a license is required under the provisions of this chapter.
27. "Restaurant" shall mean a place which is regularly and in a bona fide manner used and kept open for the serving of meals to guests for compensation and which has suitable kitchen facilities connected therewith, containing conveniences for cooking an assortment of foods, which may be required for ordinary meals, the kitchen of which must, at all times, be in charge of a chef with the necessary help, and kept in a sanitary condition with the proper amount of refrigeration for keeping of food on said premises and must comply with all the regulations of the local department of health. Restaurant shall include a motion picture theatre, movie theatre or other venue that shows motion pictures that meet the definitions of restaurant and meals, and all seating is at tables where meals are served. "Meals" shall mean the usual assortment of foods commonly ordered at various hours of the day; the service of such food and victuals only as sandwiches or salads shall not be deemed a compliance with this requirement. "Guests" shall mean persons who, during the hours when meals are regularly served therein, come to a restaurant for the purpose of obtaining, and actually order and obtain at such time, in good faith, a meal therein. Nothing in this subdivision contained, however, shall be construed to require that any food be sold or purchased with any beverage.
27-a. "Roadside farm market" means any retailer authorized to sell New York state labelled wine pursuant to section seventy-six-f of this chapter.
28. "Sale" means any transfer, exchange or barter in any manner or by any means whatsoever for a consideration, and includes and means all sales made by any person, whether principal, proprietor, agent, servant or employee of any alcoholic beverage and/or a warehouse receipt pertaining thereto. "To sell" includes to solicit or receive an order for, to keep or expose for sale, and to keep with intent to sell and shall include the delivery of any alcoholic beverage in the state.
29. "Spirits" means any beverage which contains alcohol obtained by distillation mixed with drinkable water and other substances in solution.
30. "Traffic in" includes to manufacture and sell any alcoholic beverage at wholesale or retail.
30-a. "Transfer" means the administrative processes involved in issuing a license to a new applicant for an existing licensed business. Transfer applicants shall be under contract with the existing licensee for purchase of the existing licensed business.
31. "Vehicle" shall include any device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, road, street or public place.
32. "Vessel" includes any ship or boat of any kind whatsoever, whether propelled by steam or otherwise and whether used as a sea-going vessel or on inland waters which is properly equipped for the service of alcoholic beverages.
33. "Vintner" means any person who owns, occupies, carries on, works, conducts or operates any winery either by himself or by his agent.
34. "Wholesale sale" or "sale at wholesale" means a sale to any person for purposes of resale.
35. "Wholesaler" means any person who sells at wholesale any beverage for the sale of which a license is required under the provisions of this chapter.
36. "Wine" means the product of the normal alcoholic fermentation of the juice of fresh, sound, ripe grapes, or other fruits or plants 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-four per centum by volume. Wine produced from fruits or plants other than grapes shall include appropriate prefixes descriptive of the fruit or the product from which such wine was predominantly produced, and no other product shall be called "wine" unless designated as artificial or imitation wine.
36-a. "Wine product" means a beverage containing wine to which is added concentrated or unconcentrated juice, flavoring material, water, citric acid, sugar and carbon dioxide and containing not more than six per centum alcohol by volume, to which nothing other than such wine has been added to increase the alcoholic content of such beverage.
37. "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 in any state other than New York state and which has and maintains a branch factory, office or storeroom within the state of New York and receives wine in this state consigned to a United States government bonded winery, warehouse or storeroom located within the state.
38. "Warehouse" means and includes a place in which alcoholic beverages are housed or stored.
Last modified: February 3, 2019