Our Role

These family-owned distributors, located across the state, make substantial investments in order to ensure that a wide variety of brands reach Minnesota consumers. Because beer is heavy, perishable and temperature-controlled, distributors must invest in refrigerated warehouses, trucks, fork lifts, vans, a sales force, and a delivery force in order to get fresh product from the brewery to thousands of retail accounts.

Distributors employ thousands of Minnesotans in well-paying jobs in order to service retail accounts in their communities. They produce marketing and advertising materials in order to promote brewers’ brands, support retail marketing, and educate consumers about the diverse range of beer products.

Distributors monitor and rotate code-dated product in their warehouses and in retail accounts in order to ensure product freshness. If product becomes out-of-date, distributors replace that product with fresh product at their cost and expense.

Distributors educate retailers about the attributes of the diverse products that they carry and about the legal requirements that retailers must adhere to. Finally, distributors play a crucial role in ensuring that all applicable taxes are paid on one of the most heavily taxed products in our economy.