Stupid State Beer/Liquor Laws

This one has impacted me before, but in a different way. Around here, a 'liquor store' can sell liquor, wine, and beer. So when I visit a place like NY or Nevada, and look up liquor store, I end up being very disappointed with what I find (i.e. no beer). Likewise, it's a language barrier with others, as they get confused when I tell them to head to the liquor store to pick up the latest beer release.

Always strange to me that a store known for nothing more than selling alcohol can't sell one of the forms of alcohol.

 

A bunch of the laws in Ontario are changing since COVID but we have some nonsense ones.

We have a provincial health card (not trying to rub that in really) with DOB and a picture it is specifically not ID and cant be used even though its issued in the same office that drivers licenses are. We have a stupid "Age of Majority" card people without licenses or passports can get.

Collaborations can only be sold in the brewery where the actual tank it was brewed in is located. Cant be sold at both breweries.

our provincial liquor store (really the only place you can buy anything other than beer and wine) can only sell smaller than 12 packs. No 24s or bigger.

On the good side, the drinking age is 19

 

TN has a high tax on making and selling beer. Makes beer more expensive.

 

My only complaint in all my years of buying beer is from a trip in 1990. I went into a convenience store in Philadelphia to buy some beer and when the clerk asked what I was looking for, he laughed at me and declared I must not be from Pennsylvania. Of course my hillbilly accent was probably a dead giveaway. Beer to go was only sold in bars he explained. At the time I lived in North Carolina and it certainly wasn't the case to buy beer only in bars. I just thought that was incredibly odd. It certainly wasn't anything like I was used to. I'm sure the law has been updated by now. At least I hope it has been. Anybody from Pennsylvania want to chime in?

 

Oh lord... I wish you hadn't asked that.

 

Why would the brewery be paying the food truck to show up? The truck should be paying the brewery for the space.

 

Yeah I gathered the laws there are a bit of a mess.

 

Each truck is different, but my understanding is it's sort of a 'deposit', to guarantee the truck makes enough to cover expenses with travel, setup and labor. Then past a certain point of sales, the truck begins to share profits with the brewery. I've also heard food trucks have a minimum ordering amount, and if that amount isn't met by patrons, then the booking establishment (in this case, the brewery) is responsible for covering the gap.

That was explained to me high-level by a brewery I used to frequent weekly (pre-COVID), when they were explaining why they did so few food trucks. Of course, YMMV, based on locale and availability of food trucks.

 

The training is there to assure that servers know the rules on alcohol consumption. There are additional health regulations that all (not just alcohol) servers need to follow and be aware of. There may be required training for these requirements. If employees violate the rules, they can't say "Oh, I didn't know." It sounds like Washington has a reasonable program.

 

NYS has numerous stupid laws related to alcohol sales, the biggest one is the 21 minimum age. I grew up in Florida when it was 18 for beer & wine and 21 for hard liquor.

In NY grocery stores can't sell wine or liquor, liquor stores can't sell beer or mixers, or glasses, or snacks, just cork screws and stoppers and lottery tickets.
Not sure if it is still in place, but back around 1990 NY wanted to put an end to college keggers so they placed a $50 deposit on kegs which also applied to, and killed, the 5 gallon beer balls.
I've also been told the state doesn't allow retailers to have sales or markdowns on beer preventing stores from lowering the price on aging beers.

 

Most states also have impaired at 0.05. Being 70+, I'd say that the 4 beers that put me over .08 would severely affect my driving. Also, the breath test is not entirely reliable, so an 0.08 test could be blown by a person with an actual blood alcohol over 0.10 (or below 0.06). You make some compromises with your rights when you take the responsibility of driving. (I didn't find direct reference but was on a jury where this was discussed. Precision is determined by calibration and is generally very good. The greater uncertainty arises from the specific conditions of the performance of the test at the traffic stop.)

 

NY law protects the independent liquor store. Costco can own only one liquor outlet in the state (Oceanside store). I recently bought (in a NY supermarket) some 50% off Hofbrau Dunkel at a closeout sale. Some AALs were 75% off.
The increase of the drinking age probably came from a federal government push. I grew up in Oregon where 21 was always in place. Until the 60s a liquor permit was available to allow easier purchase. It was definitely hard for high schoolers to get their hands on the stuff, and not so easy for college students. Maybe that's not a bad result.

 

Around here, the trucks pay the brewery. Either a flat rate, a percentage,or an agreed upon amount (one brewery I know charges x if they need 110 power, and y if they need 220, a flat rate, and puts the money towards the company holiday party). it's inconceivable to me that a brewery would have to pay a truck for the opportunity to make money. For the truck owners, that would be a sweet deal, get paid for showing up, and make money from your business.

 

You lost me on this one. A brewery has to sell food to have a taproom? How about bars? And what do you mean by random? Randomly enforced?

 

Well, they also have have to have a food handlers permit. I've let my servers permit expire, but even the bussers need a food handlers permit to handle dishes and glassware. The food permit comes from individual county health departments (which means you need multiple if you work in different counties), and are good for 2 years,while the servers permit is issued by the state and is good for 5 years.

And no, it's not reasonable. We don't have a state income tax, so the state/counties/cities grab every buck they can, wherever they can.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/05/new-rule-requires-meals-with-beers-but-not-wine-why
That may explain it further.
By random I guess I meant stupid or arbitrary. The breweries seem to be following the rules.

 

NY just instituted this law last year, and used COVID (cough, cough) as their reasoning. I've had various experiences with its implementation:

1) The brewery gives me my drink. No questions asked.
2) The brewery tosses me a free bag of potato chips. (My glove box is now full of Ruffle potato chips thanks to this).
3) The brewery charges you $1 for said bag of chips.
4) The brewery doesn't have snack chips to buy, and you're left buying food you don't want.

Often times, the response seems to correlate with the brewery/bar having a kitchen prior as it's an increased source of revenue I guess (or, on the other side, added financial burden for the brewery if food permits are required). Or maybe it's the owner's political stance because some seem pretty pissed and just don't like the oversight. If I'm not mistaken, CT recently added the caveat that the food be 'prepared.' Last time I sat down for a beer at a brewery the bartender cut a few slices off a block of cheese to solve that problem.

 

Maybe they want to encourage drunk driving...

 

In the 60's Oregon had different by-the-drink licenses for bars (liquor, wine, beer) and taverns (beer and possibly wine). Taverns closed at 1:00 AM; bars at 2:30 AM. That might have encouraged drunk driving. Now I think required closings were made uniform at 2;30.