Bill would take new look at state liquor laws
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By BROCK VERGAKIS
The Associated Press
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ALT LAKE CITY -- The same state that's on a path to banishing wine coolers from grocery stores and requires anyone who enters a bar to have a paid membership is now considering offering stronger liquor drinks so Utah won't appear so odd to the rest of the country.
Utah has some of the nation's strictest liquor laws and weakest drinks.
Drinks can have no more than 1 ounce of liquor in them, and bartenders are prohibited from serving doubles. Tourists and locals alike have complained for years that drinks here are watered down.
"You really can't make a real drink with 1 ounce of alcohol," said Tom Guinney, an owner of the Gastronomy restaurant chain that's advocating changes in state law. "It is one of our quirky laws that does a great disservice to the citizens of the state of Utah and the tourists -- it's financially abusive. People are getting ripped off."
State law allows for customers to order a second shot of liquor -- known locally as a sidecar -- that they can pour into drinks themselves, doubling the drink's potency.
On Monday, Sen. Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, was granted permission by the Senate to open up a bill file that would eliminate sidecars and increase the size of a standard shot from 1 ounce to 1.5 ounces -- the general standard used elsewhere.
Guinney said bar owners and restaurants misled the state decades ago when they reported to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that a standard shot was 1 ounce in an effort to increase their profits. He said some bar owners are opposing larger shots of liquor and the elimination of sidecars because they're afraid it would cut into their profit margins.
Eastman's proposal would not order stiffer drinks, but many customers would expect them if the law passed.
"If a bar wants to stay in business, it'll have to offer the full 1.5 ounces," said Bob Brown, an opponent of the effort and the owner of downtown bar Cheers To You.
Brown said the change in state law would only serve to make customers more intoxicated and boost state revenues because bars have to buy their liquor from the state, and sales tax revenue would increase because bars would have to raise their prices.
Brown is the former president of the Utah Hospitality Association, and said lawmakers' contention that this proposal would reduce drunken driving is absurd.
"Tom Guinney has been telling legislators and Governor Huntsman that it will actually reduce the amount of alcohol served to customers, because customers always order a drink and a sidecar. That's just crap," Brown said. "They'll order shots until the cows come home, but very rarely do we sell sidecars, and Cheers is probably one of the biggest sidecar drinkers."
Eastman needed the Senate's permission because the deadline to request that a bill be written had already passed.
While Eastman's proposal would make standard liquor drinks stronger, it would also weaken others, such as margaritas and Long Island iced teas.
That's because under current law, drinks can have an additional 1.75 ounces of what the state calls flavored spirits. Eastman wants to reduce that amount to 0.5 ounces, which would mean certain drinks could have no more than 2 ounces of liquor, down from 2.75 ounces. Brown said he wouldn't be able to sell certain drinks, such as White Russians, which consist of vodka, coffee liqueur and cream, anymore because they require more flavoring than would be allowed by state law.
Lawmakers supporting the effort that's backed by Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman say the proposal is aimed at improving public safety.
"The governor really made a good case that we have a provision in our liquor laws that's actually encouraging consumption by encouraging people to buy sidecars," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem.
The willingness of the Republican-controlled Senate to consider a request to serve stiffer drinks without extensive study is virtually unheard of in Utah.
While about 62 percent of Utah's population are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, about 90 percent of Utah lawmakers are.
The church has opposed every effort to make alcohol more accessible in the past decade and supports sending drinks like Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade out of grocery stores and into state-controlled liquor stores.
When the church speaks, lawmakers tend to listen. Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said he didn't expect the church to oppose the measure but had also not gotten an official statement. Senate Republicans are expected to meet behind closed doors today to discuss the proposal.
Huntsman has said for years that he would like to see the state's liquor laws loosened, but lawmakers have scoffed at the idea. He has said he would support stiffer liquor drinks because it would bring the state closer to 'normalcy' in its liquor laws.
This fall, Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said any changes to the state's liquor laws would probably need to come all at once and only after significant discussion.
But on Monday, Valentine changed his tune and helped allow Eastman to open up his bill file.
Eastman said that by offering stronger drinks, Utah would be more competitive with other states in the region.
"A request has come from a number of individuals, including our governor, to help normalize the liquor laws in the state of Utah," Eastman said.
Since Huntsman came into office, Utah has placed an increasing focus on improving the state's tourism industry. Tourism officials have fought for years the perception that it's difficult to get a drink in Utah, with little success.
Brown said if Huntsman wants to improve the state's image and its tourism industry, he's targeting the wrong liquor laws. He said more people complain about the alcoholic content of the state's beer, which can be no more than 3.2 percent by weight, and the state's requirement to have a membership to enter a bar than anything else.
"If you want to fix tourism, allow full-strength beer and get rid of private clubs," Brown said. "Two things will happen: The bad (perception) about Utah from alcohol will completely go away, and you will still not have put more alcohol into the drivers on our roads."
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