The 2025 Kentucky legislative session saw the General Assembly enact Senate Bill 100, which requires retailers selling tobacco, nicotine, and vapor products to hold a tobacco-specific permit, effective January 1, 2026. 

One of the many pandemic-inspired ad hoc measures enacted last year to support restaurants and provide much needed merriment for beleaguered patrons has now become a permanent feature of Kentucky law – the cocktail-to-go. SB 67 was signed into law by Kentucky Gov. Beshear on March 15^th featuring an emergency clause thereby rendering it immediately effective.

The Healthy at Work phase of reopening Kentucky businesses gained steam over the past couple of weeks with restaurants scheduled opening for dine-in customers on May 22, 2020. Restaurants must adhere to a set of industry specific guidelines provided by Governor Andy Beshear in addition to a set of minimum requirements which applies to most businesses in Kentucky. The Kentucky ABC also provided updated guidance to clarify that it is still allowing for restaurants to provide alcohol with curbside service, delivery, and carry-out, since restaurants will not be operating at full capacity.

You have been perfecting your recipes for years, laboriously working over a hot stove and making sure every bit is seasoned, simmered, sautéed, and served to utmost perfection. Your passion is now your business, and your business…well, let’s just say that the chicken isn’t the only thing in your restaurant that can be dangerous when not fully cooked. You’ve trained to be a chef, but you never knew just how complicated running a business could be. Licenses and inspections to set up were tough, but keeping a restaurant running comes with its own buffet of issues.

It’s not a stretch to link dram shop liability and Kentucky tourism these days. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the newfound ability of distilleries and craft producers to serve alcohol themselves have brought this issue into sharper focus. With the boom in alcohol tourism and on-site sampling, alcohol retailers old and new who rely on a steady stream of tourists should understand that with these new powers come new responsibilities, and dram shop liability is law in Kentucky.

Travel and tourism are booming in Kentucky. According to the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, tourism had a $13.7 billion impact on Kentucky’s economy in 2015 – from 24.6 million visitors coming to Kentucky, making $8.7 billion in direct expenditures. At the same time, Kentucky’s burgeoning tourism destinations have some potential obstacles in serving their guests. To find out more about trends in travel and tourism, I’ve asked Hank Phillips, President and CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, for insight into the state of travel and tourism in the Commonwealth.