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An Act To Change the Definition of "Hard Cider" for Consistency with Federal Law
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 28-A MRSA §2, sub-§12-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 652, Pt. A, §41, is further amended to read:
 
12-A. Hard cider.   "Hard cider" means liquor produced by fermentation of the juice of apples or pears, including, but not limited to, flavored, sparkling or carbonated cider, that contains not less than 1/2 of 1% alcohol by volume and not more than 7%8.5% alcohol by volume.
Sec. 2. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2017.
 
SUMMARY
This bill amends the definition of "hard cider" to be consistent with the definition of "hard cider" in federal law as administered by the United States Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Like the federal definition, the change to the definition of "hard cider" in this bill takes effect on January 1, 2017. The bill increases the allowable alcohol content from 7% to 8.5% and allows hard cider to be produced from the juice of pears as well as of apples.