Methodology & Data Sources

Data Source

PlainAlcohol uses data from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for regulating and collecting taxes on alcohol production and importation in the United States.

The permittee list is publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Source: ttb.gov

What We Cover

PlainAlcohol includes five categories of TTB-permitted businesses:

• Breweries — Brewer's Notice (BN) holders authorized to produce beer
• Distilleries — Distilled Spirits Plant (DSP) permit holders
• Wineries — Bonded Winery (BW) permit holders
• Importers — Basic Permit holders authorized to import alcohol
• Wholesalers/Distributors — Basic Permit holders authorized to wholesale alcohol

Together, these five categories encompass the federal regulatory landscape for alcohol production and distribution in the United States. The TTB registry is the official source for determining whether a business holds a valid federal alcohol permit, though individual states maintain their own separate licensing systems for retail sales and on-premises consumption.

How We Process the Data

1. Download the current TTB permittee list from TTB's public data release
2. Parse permit type, permit number, business name, and address fields
3. Normalize business names and state/city fields for consistent searchability
4. Categorize producers by permit type (brewery, distillery, winery, importer, wholesaler) using TTB permit classification codes
5. Compute geographic distribution statistics at the state and city level, including producer density and category breakdowns
6. Load into our search-optimized database

Data Currency

The TTB releases updated permittee data periodically. We update our database when new TTB data becomes available. Permit status can change frequently — new permits are issued as businesses launch, and existing ones may be revoked, surrendered, or suspended due to regulatory violations, voluntary closure, or failure to renew. TTB processes thousands of permit applications and modifications annually. Always verify current permit status directly with TTB for legal or commercial purposes, as our database may not reflect the most recent changes.

Limitations

• PlainAlcohol reflects TTB's federal registry — state-level permits (e.g., state distributor licenses) are not included
• Permit status shown may not reflect recent changes filed after our last data update
• Some businesses hold multiple permit types; they may appear in multiple categories
• This data is for informational purposes only — not a substitute for official TTB verification

How the Source Agency Collects Data

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is responsible for administering federal laws governing the production, distribution, and importation of alcohol beverages. Every business that produces, imports, or wholesales alcohol in the United States must obtain a federal permit from the TTB before operating. The permittee registry is maintained as businesses apply for, receive, renew, and surrender permits.

TTB publishes the active permittee list under the Freedom of Information Act. The data includes the permit type, permit number, trade name, operating name, and physical address of each permitted business. This registry represents the federal layer of alcohol regulation — state-level permits and local licenses are managed separately by individual state alcohol control boards.

Data Accuracy Commitment

PlainAlcohol presents TTB data without modification or editorialization. Business names, addresses, and permit types appear exactly as filed with the federal government. We do not verify whether a business is currently operating at its listed address or whether it has additional state-level permits. If you find any data that appears incorrect, please contact us so we can verify against the source records.

Editorial Workflow

Content on PlainAlcohol is compiled by our editorial team from official source data. Raw data from the federal TTB permittee registry, state ABC agency rules, NIAAA epidemiology datasets, and CDC BRFSS public-health surveys is ingested programmatically by our ETL pipeline. Narrative framing, guide text, rankings commentary, and methodology writeups are drafted by the PlainAlcohol Editorial team at Kiznis Studio and reviewed line-by-line before publication. No page on PlainAlcohol is published without editorial review. We do not accept payment for coverage, placement, or rankings — state and producer comparisons are computed directly from the source agency data.

Not Affiliated

PlainAlcohol is not affiliated with the TTB, any state Alcoholic Beverage Control agency, NIAAA, CDC, any alcohol producer, distributor, retailer, or advocacy organization. This site is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal, regulatory, or medical advice.

Frequently Asked Questions