OREGON DISTILLERS GUILD

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBLE PRACTICES FOR SALES AND SERVICE OF DISTILLED SPIRITS

Overview
The Oregon Distillers Guild (“ODG”) is Oregon’s distilled spirits trade organization comprised of companies with common interests in manufacturing, selling and marketing of distilled spirits produced in Oregon. As a member-driven organization, ODG can develop and share best practices across the organization for the benefit of each respective member. As a result, each member benefits from the collective knowledge of the organization. The members of ODG are committed to selling and serving distilled spirits in a responsible manner and thus ODG has developed this “Statement of Responsible Practices for Sales and Service of Distilled Spirits” as a non-binding guide of general principles for its members. This code maybe updated over time as new information or resources become available. As an organization, ODG is committed to the following:

Marketing our products in a manner consistent with safe and reasonable consumption. Our advertising and marketing practices strive to achieve the following:

• Encourage safe and sensible approaches to consumption. Include responsible drinking statements in beverage alcohol advertising, marketing materials, and promotional events
• Exclude or avoid representing activities that might lead to overconsumption or potentially harmful consequences.
• Make no claim of enhanced physical or intellectual ability or personal or social achievement.
• We are committed to eliminating underage consumption of beverage alcohol.

Marketing our products only to adults of legal purchase age. We encourage members to adopt sales and marketing practices that follow these principles:

• Only advertise and market our products in outlets that meet a minimum audience of 71.6% adults of legal purchase age.
• Not employ characters or activities that primarily appeal to non-legal drinking age consumers.
• Not present legal alcohol consumption as a “rite of passage.”
• Utilize models and talent in advertising and marketing materials that appear to be of legal drinking age or older.

Selling and serving our products only to adults of legal purchase age. We encourage members to conduct staff training and implement online safeguards to mitigate the risk of sale or service to a minor:

In-person age verification training and practices

• Confirm all staff whose work duties include checking IDs, selling or serving alcohol hold a valid OLCC service permit. The server education program that must be completed as a part of the service permit process includes training for in-person age verification.
• Take steps to ensure your staff who sell or serve alcohol are thoroughly trained to verify the age of your customers. In addition to completing server education, encourage and support your staff’s supplemental education related to age verification. OLCC offers ID verification training classes
• Train staff to follow steps for verifying age outlined in this resource produced by OLCC.

Website age affirmation

• Age affirmation mechanisms, utilizing month, day and year functionality, should be employed for ODG member-controlled distilled spirits advertising or marketing websites. Age affirmation mechanisms may vary depending upon available technology.
• Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • an age affirmation page
  • an email or instant messaging age affirmation
  • use of a site’s “registered user” database of users of legal purchase age.
• Member-controlled websites should contain a reminder of the legal purchase age.

Never selling or serving our products to visibly intoxicated persons. We encourage members take actions in their businesses to avoid sales or service of distilled spirits to visibly intoxicated persons, including:

• Train all staff who sell or serve alcohol to recognize the 50 signs of visible intoxication and make this information available to staff on site.
• Adopt as a house policy and make sure all staff are trained to know that your business has a zero-tolerance policy for serving visibly intoxicated patrons. Note that it is also against the law to sell to or serve a visibly intoxicated person.

Special thanks: Both ACSA and Discus, leaders in the distilled spirit industry, inspired language of this statement of responsibility. Together we are keeping our customers safe and promoting responsible consumption.

Useful links that reinforce the ODG Statement of Responsible Practices for Sales and Service of Distilled Spirits

• FTC: We Don’t Serve Teens
• Responsibility.org

DISCLAIMER TO ALL READERS: THE ODG STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBLE PRACTICES FOR SALES AND SERVICE OF DISTILLED SPIRITS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. IF MEMBERS HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE LEGALLY ALLOWED TO DO IN OREGON WITH RESPECT TO SALES AND SERVICE OF ALCOHOL, THEY SHOULD CONSULT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR THE OREGON LIQUOR AND CANNABIS COMMISSION.