It really did feel more like signing a peace treaty than a bill signing when Gov. Jon Huntsman passed out copies of the new 213-page law that "normalizes" drinking in Utah.

Like a post-Berlin Wall Eastern European, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic about the bad old days when being a drinker in Zion meant rigmarole like social-club membership cards and the clinking of "Barbie" mini-bottles. It was all so wicked.

The bill signing at the New Yorker club still retained some Utah quirkiness. Though Huntsman gathered us in a bar, no liquor was served. And truth be told, we — Guv, lawmakers, media and DABC officials — probably violated the still-existing club laws because no membership was required to enter and no bouncer bothered to check ages.

Best quote:
Former Trib publisher Jack Gallivan, who seems to have been fighting to liberalize Utah's liquor laws since the Egyptians made lager at the foot of the Great Pyramid, accepted a commemorative copy of the bill.

I'll keep this with the family Bible.

Meanwhile, the BBC continues its obsessive interest in Utah's drinking laws.