California Assembly Bill AB2375

California 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/19/26
• Refer: 3/9/26
• Report Pass: 4/9/26
• Engrossed: 4/16/26
• Refer: 4/16/26
• Refer: 5/6/26
• Report Pass: 6/8/26
• Refer: 6/8/26

Caption

An act to amend Sections 23006, 25509, and 25509.1 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to alcoholic beverages.

Summary

AB 2375 revises California’s statutory definition of “beer” in the Business and Professions Code. The bill expands the ingredients that may be used in beer production by expressly allowing “other grain” in addition to barley, malt, and hops, and it clarifies that fermentation occurs in drinkable water. It also states that beer may include certain adjuncts used in fermentation, such as honey, fruit, fruit juice, fruit concentrate, herbs, spices, and other food materials. The bill further provides that beer aged in an empty wooden barrel previously used to contain wine or distilled spirits remains beer and is not treated as a dilution or mixture of another alcoholic beverage. It also preserves the exclusion of sake from the beer definition. The measure is framed as a technical update to alcohol law rather than a broad policy change, but it affects how beer is classified for purposes of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.

Impact

AB 2375 would amend Section 23006 of the Business and Professions Code, changing the legal definition of beer for licensing, labeling, and regulatory purposes under California’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. The practical effect is to broaden the range of grain-based products that qualify as beer and to clarify treatment of adjunct ingredients and barrel-aged products. This could benefit brewers using nontraditional grains or barrel-aging methods by reducing ambiguity over whether their products fall within the beer category.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been received very favorably. It passed committee and floor votes unanimously, including a 22-0 vote and a 68-0 vote, and was sent to the Consent Calendar, indicating little or no opposition. The available record suggests broad agreement that the measure is a straightforward clarification or modernization of beer definitions.

Contention

There is no recorded substantive opposition in the available votes or committee materials. Any potential points of contention would likely center on the scope of the expanded beer definition—especially the inclusion of other grains, adjunct ingredients, and barrel-aged products—but no legislators or stakeholders are identified in the provided materials as raising objections. The unanimous votes suggest the bill was viewed as noncontroversial.