Alcohol sales are broken out into three traditional tiers—the producer (tier one) who makes it, distributors (tier two) who move it, and retailers (tier three), who sell it. Kate, Good Beer Hunting’s Sightlines reporter, has recently had a series of stories focused on what’s happening around shipping beer and other products, and we’re going to spend a good chunk of time talking about a very grey area that’s allowed some shipping companies to do business in a space of uncertain legality.