State sues company for selling beer to minor via Internet

Modern Brewery Age, August 4, 1997

Nixon used the intern to reveal that underage drinkers can buy beer through the Internet with no questions asked. And on Thursday, he filed suit in St. Louis, MO, Circuit Court against Hog's Head Beer Cellars of Greensboro, N.C.

Nixon asked the court to stop the company's sales in Missouri. He said it violated Missouri consumer protection laws by selling beer to a minor and selling a product that is not licensed as Missouri law requires. The intern joined the company's beer-of-the-month club through its Interact site, and her first package of micro-brewed beer arrived on her doorstep last week. Nobody ever checked whether she was above the legal drinking age of 21, Nixon said. A credit card and a computer with Internet access are the only tools minors need to order beer, Nixon said.

Missouri law allows certain types of wines to be sold through the Interact in limited quantities, Nixon said. And selling beer to people 21 or older via a licensed retailer through the Internet would also be legal, he said.