Photo by Mr. T in DC

While the online sale of alcohol isn’t illegal in D.C., the city is telling one new company to turn the tap off.

D.C.’s Alcohol Board issued a cease-and-desist order yesterday to Ultra, which began booze delivery in late May. The company acts as a third party vendor, taking orders online, partnering with local stores and delivering alcohol in under an hour. From a release:

An investigation of Ultra by the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) found that the business solicits alcoholic beverage orders and takes credit card information from consumers for the sale and delivery of alcoholic beverage products. Ultra collects the money directly from the customer in addition to a five dollar delivery fee. The money is then forwarded to the licensee, minus an agreed upon percentage that Ultra retains.

Under District law, no person is permitted to sell—which includes soliciting orders for sale—any alcoholic beverage without the proper license to do so.

Indeed, liquor stores with alcoholic beverage licenses are allowed to sell alcohol online and deliver it in D.C.

When ABRA first announced the investigation, a release from Ultra stated that the company “operates in a regulatory structure where laws do not exist for matters related to the internet sales of alcohol in many states, opening up possibilities for reviews and investigations by the local alcohol regulatory bodies.”

Ultra founder and CEO Aniket Shah said in an email today, “We strive to ensure full compliance with all applicable regulations that apply to our operations in all states and territories we operate in. We would like to work within the applicable rules and guidelines issued by ABRA in D.C. We plan to respond to this order and seek clarification regarding how we can change our operations to fully comply with ABRA regulations.”

For the moment, Ultra has stopped service in D.C.