Boozin’ Blog

From time to time I harp on the regulations restricting alcohol sales and consumption. After reading this article I have to admit that Utah seems to take the prize for having the craziest set of liquor laws for now.

The good news is that lawmakers are seeking to remove some of the silly restrictions. One change would be that Utah drinkers could buy full strength beer on tap. See, right now they can buy full strength beer in bottles but not on tap. There isn’t a law that specifically says that full strength beer can’t be sold on taps. But it is the reality because of restrictions placed on suppliers. Only one type of store in the state can sell full strength beer and that store isn’t allowed to sell kegs. Therefore…

Other laws wandering through the Utah legislature seek to legalize alcohol sales on Election Day and remove the membership requirement to enter bars. I don’t know about you but after having to pick one sad-sack politician over another I often do need a stiff drink. How the Election Day restriction has stood is beyond me. But the bar membership thing is even more strange. Apparently someone had the bright idea that, after Prohibition, alcohol should only be sold in bars that were private clubs. So anyone wishing to stop in a bar has to fill out an application to join the club.

But it doesn’t stop there! Ever heard of a Zion Curtain? Yeah, I hadn’t either. Think of it as a bartender’s version of those black bars they used to insert into dirty movies to cover the naughty bits. The law in Utah prohibits bartenders from serving mixed drinks directly over the counter so a glass partition, the Zion Curtain, is placed between the two. Not having seen one in action I’m still not sure how the bartender gets the drink into the patron’s hands. Perhaps a church elder is called in to carry it around the bar to deliver it to the customer then stand there tsk-tsking while she tries to enjoy her drink.

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One doesn’t exactly think “clandestine” when mixing sangria but that’s exactly what it is to make the drink in Virginia. It has been illegal to make the popular Spanish mixed drink there since shortly after the repeal of national prohibition. And not just sangria. The law says that combining wine or beer and spirits and pre-mixing or storing drinks outside their original containers, except for those in approved frozen-drink dispensers is prohibited. Violating that law can actually send a bartender to jail for a year!

But things may be changing. According to this piece that originated in the Washington Post, the General Assembly will be considering an exception to the law for sangria. That’s right, rather that just repeal an obviously stupid law they are going to allow a sangria exception! I am continually amazed by the ridiculous patchwork of liquor laws in this country.

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