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Last updated: March 28, 2026

Compliance Disclaimer

Beer Buddy surfaces relevant laws and ordinances but does NOT make compliance determinations. The decision to sell or distribute alcohol at a specific location is yours. Always verify with original sources and consult legal counsel for complex situations.

1. How Beer Buddy Works

When you run a compliance check, Beer Buddy follows this pipeline:

  1. Address geocoding — your address is sent to Geoapify to determine the exact geographic coordinates, city, county, and state
  2. Brand rights check — we verify the brand has distribution rights in that zip code based on territory data your organization has entered
  3. Law lookup — we search our database for applicable municipal, county, state, and federal alcohol regulations
  4. AI summary — an AI model generates a plain-language explanation of the result and applicable laws

2. Data Sources and Limitations

  • Federal regulations — sourced from the eCFR (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations). Updated as eCFR publishes changes.
  • State legislation — tracked via Open States API for bill status and changes. May lag behind real-time legislative activity.
  • Municipal and county ordinances — manually curated by compliance officers, supplemented by AI research. Municipal codes have no free API; coverage depends on manual entry and AI discovery.
  • AI-researched ordinances — discovered using Google Gemini and Groq AI models. All AI-sourced laws are reviewed by a human before entering the system, but accuracy is not guaranteed.

3. AI-Sourced Law Accuracy

Beer Buddy uses AI to research and summarize alcohol ordinances. While AI-sourced laws are human-reviewed before import, you should be aware that:

  • AI models may produce inaccurate or outdated information
  • Statute references may contain errors
  • Legal text may not be verbatim from the original source
  • Laws change frequently; our database may not reflect the very latest amendments

AI-sourced laws in our system are marked with a confidence level (High, Medium, Low). Low-confidence entries should be verified against the original source before relying on them.

4. Verify with Original Sources

We recommend verifying compliance information against the original source:

  • eCFR Title 27 — Federal alcohol regulations
  • Open States — State legislation tracking
  • Municode — Municipal code library
  • Your state's Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) commission website

5. When to Consult an Attorney

You should consult a qualified attorney when:

  • A compliance check returns a "Review" status
  • You are entering a new market or jurisdiction for the first time
  • Local ordinances appear to conflict with state or federal law
  • You have questions about licensing, permits, or enforcement actions
  • AI-sourced laws in the results have low confidence ratings

6. Reporting Errors

If you find an error in our law database or compliance results, please report it through our feedback system (available after login). We investigate all reports and update our records promptly.