In Tennessee, a beer license is called a beer permit, and it comes from your city or county beer board on that board’s own schedule. We help with new applications, stalled files, ownership changes, and hearings, so a permit doesn’t hold up your opening or your sale.
Schedule your free consultationBeer boards work on their own calendars and their own checklists. A permit can depend on inspections, your lease, and your state license at the same time. We keep your file moving through each step.
Your city or county board decides who can sell beer, on its own meeting calendar.
The inspections and approvals most boards want before a permit can move forward.
A liquor license is a separate state file, so a business can clear one and still wait on the other.
We gather what your board asks for, from the lease or deed to zoning, health, and fire sign-offs, so the file is ready for the agenda.
If your application lands on a deferred list, we find out what’s still missing and help clear it before the next meeting.
A Tennessee beer permit can’t move to a new owner or a new address. We plan the new permit around your closing date.
Each city and county sets its own requirements, and they change. We check what your board requires before you file.
If the board calls you in to answer a complaint, we help you prepare your records and your initial response.
A denial can be reviewed in court, and the deadline is short. We help you weigh your next step quickly.
Tell us about the location, the timeline, and where the file stands. Our intake team gathers the details and sets up your consultation with an attorney.
One-time permit help comes at a flat fee we confirm up front. Ongoing support runs on one monthly fee.
We line up the documents and sign-offs your board requires and keep an eye on the agenda.
We prepare you for the meeting and stay with the file through the board’s decision. Dates can move, so we build room into your schedule.
A deferral is common, and it usually means a file isn’t complete yet. How long it lasts is what matters. In our count of 210 applications on Metro Nashville Beer Permit Board agendas this year, new locations took about 81 days to approval at the median. Ownership changes took about 47.
Need the state license too? See our Tennessee liquor license attorneys. Facing a hearing? Read about the Franklin beer permit hearings.
Once you’re open, the legal questions keep coming. Clients on a monthly plan get most of it on one flat fee, with no hourly meter running. Lawsuits and a few other matters are quoted separately, and we tell you up front.
Yes. Most people say beer license, and Tennessee law calls it a beer permit. It covers beer at 8% alcohol by weight or less and comes from your city or county beer board. Liquor, wine, and high-gravity beer need a state license from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC).
State law sets a $250 application fee, paid to your city or county and kept whether the permit is approved or denied, plus a yearly privilege tax of up to $100. Some cities and counties add requirements of their own. Our guide to what a liquor license costs covers the full budget.
No law requires one, and many owners file on their own. An attorney helps most when ownership is layered, a sale is about to close, an application has stalled, or the board has called you to a hearing.
In Nashville, deferred applications appear on the board’s agenda as “Defer Indefinitely - Missing Documents.” That label suggests the file wasn’t complete when the agenda came out. Call your board’s office and ask exactly what’s missing.
No. Tennessee law ties a beer permit to one owner, one location, and one business name, so it can’t be transferred. The new owner applies for a new permit, and some cities add their own rules for smaller ownership changes.
Yes. A court can review a beer board’s decision, and the deadline is short. Metro Nashville’s agendas list 60 days from the date the board enters its decision. Our plans include the initial response, and a court appeal is a separate engagement we quote up front.
A beer board can suspend or revoke a permit, or it can impose a fine called a civil penalty. How that plays out depends on your board’s ordinance and the facts of the case.
Across Tennessee, with offices in Nashville and Knoxville.
A free 15-minute call with our team to learn about your location and timeline, then set up a consultation with an attorney.
Schedule your free consultation