A new day is dawning for Utah diners today - the first day when restaurants can take down the "Zion Curtain" that separates patrons from the alcohol preparation.

Some restaurateurs - like Shawn Boyle at Faustina (pictured above) - celebrated by ceremonially removing the glass partitions from their counters.

Others are leaving them up, in part because they are part of their establishment's architecture or esthetics.

The bad news comes for new restaurants: After today, anyone building a new restaurant must have an alcohol-prep area - completely out of view of customers - built into the floor plans.

It's a double-standard that sets up different rules for new restaurants and old ones. But what would Utah liquor laws be without unfair and arbitrary rules?

(Photo: Paul Fraughton/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws

This last session, the Utah Legislature at long last dragged the state's liquor laws into the 21st century - by lifting the rules on private clubs and allowing existing restaurants to tear down the "Zion Curtain" separating drink preparation from patrons.

Now an online petition by Utah beer lovers is asking the Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control (the DABC) to bring the state's liquor stores out of the days of the horse and buggy - by installing refrigeration units.

On the consumer-advocacy web site Tribute to Beer, co-founder Ross Metzger has written an online petition asking DABC to install the coolers because "consumers are tired of paying a premium in Utah for beer that has gone bad!"

Many "heavy beers" go bad from being stored in hot warehouses and room-temperature stores. The petition concludes that refrigeration units in liquor stores will give fans of craft-brewed beer "an opportunity to get good beer from the channels that have been given to them, and stop allowing the UDABC to promote illegal transportation and consumption of out-of-state beer."

(HT: Ted McDonough, City Weekly)

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws

It's official - Gov. Jon Huntsman signed the massive revision of Utah's liquor laws on Monday, in a ceremony at the New Yorker restaurant/bar that was notable for a lack of alcohol being served.

As of July 1 - just three months and a day from now - Utah will be not quite so weird when it comes to getting a drink. The byzantine "private club" rules will be abolished (except for clubs that want to keep them), the "Zion Curtain" that separates restaurants from the liquor will come down (although, in the law's idiotic two-steps-forward, one-step-back fashion, new restaurants will have the alcohol preparation will be moved to a hidden room), and anyone who looks under 35 will have their driver's license electronically scanned before entering a bar.

So start the countdown: 92 days until we have (comparative) freedom to drink in Utah!

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, Jon Huntsman, Utah Legislature

So how did Utah's cultural landscape fare after the Utah Legislature finished its work Thursday night?

The big news is that the massive rewrite of the state's liquor laws - which eliminates the "private club" regulations and lets existing restaurants take down the "Zion Curtain" - passed both houses and is heading to Gov. Jon Huntsman's desk. In spite of the more annoying parts of the bill (like requiring a separate area for drink-mixing in new restaurants), the overall effect helps drag Utah's liquor laws into the 21st century.

On the other hand, a bill that would have allowed bars and restaurants to sell draft beer that exceeds the notorious 3.2 percent alcohol level was left hanging in the Utah Senate.

Video-game sellers may have to be more careful to ID their customers. A bill - written by disbarred Florida lawyer and anti-video-game crusader Jack Thompson - headed to Huntsman's desk would increase the fines for retailers who sell M-rated video games to minors.

And Hollywood productions will have more reason to come to Utah. The Legislature is kicking up the state's motion picture incentive to 20 percent (for up to $500,000).

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, movies, Utah Legislature, videogames

Rachel Maddow, on her MSNBC show Tuesday, took a swing at an impossible task: Explaining Utah's liquor laws to the nation.

She ran through some of the stranger aspects of Utah's alcohol policy over the years - private clubs, mini-bottles, etc. - before describing Monday's announcement that the Utah Legislature is doing away with the private club law, but adding a few other wrinkles.

Maddow enlisted the aid of Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City's former mayor, to go over the new bill. Anderson praised Gov. Jon Huntsman's efforts to bring Utah's liquor laws into the 20th century (almost into the 21st century), but also remarked on how a big step forward - like eliminating the private clubs - doesn't come without a small step backward.

Maddow talked about that step backward - how new restaurants will have to mix drinks in a separate room, away from patrons' view - by quoting (blush) my Culture Vulture column. Here's the whole clip:

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, Jon Huntsman, Rocky Anderson, Utah Legislature

Legislators trumpeting their grand compromise over updating Utah's liquor laws were particularly proud of the idea that the "Zion Curtain" - the glass partition in restaurants that divides alcohol preparation from the diners (like this one at the Stella Grill) - will soon be a thing of the past.

Not so fast, though. As I detail in today's Culture Vulture column (in the ink-and-print edition of The Salt Lake Tribune), the "Zion Curtain" isn't going away. It's growing up - and like any growing kid, it's getting its own room.

Under the proposed new law, new restaurants would have to remove alcohol preparation from the dining area entirely. A separate room for mixology would have to be included in the floor plans before a booze-serving restaurant could even be built. (Existing restaurants would be grandfathered in, but would have an incentive - $30,000 in credit at the state's liquor store - to retrofit in two years.)

The legislators are concerned that children in restaurants may see the drink mixing and get curious about the pretty-colored drinks. Alas, these legislators seem to think hiding stuff from children will make the kids less interested - when any parent will tell you the opposite is true.

(Photo: Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws

The Utah Legislature is saying goodbye to Utah's ridiculous "private club" law.

Gov. Jon Huntsman and leaders of the Utah Legislature today announced they have hammered out a major revision to the state's oddball liquor laws. The two biggest changes: An end to the fig-leaf that only "private clubs" could sell hard liquor, and that restaurants can remove the glass partition - the so-called "Zion Curtain" - that hides the booze from the bar patrons. (Here's the bill in full.)

"This bill tears down the walls," declared Sen. John L. Valentine, R-Provo, who has been in the lead on liquor issues in this year's legislative session.

But where one wall falls, another is going up. New restaurants will be required to build in a separate room for alcohol preparation, unseen by the patrons. Existing restaurants don't have to remodel their bars, but if they do they can get $30,000 in credit at the state liquor store.

In exchange for the loosening of restrictions on the soon-to-be-former "private clubs," legislators got tougher DUI laws - including a law that would, if you are arrested on a second DUI with a suspended license, make you forfeit your car.

These tougher DUI regulations were championed by Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo, who compared it to the European approach to stopping drunk driving.

"In Europe, they have the culture that they drink heavily, but they do not drive," said Herrod (pictured). "That's the culture I want to bring to Utah."

Herrod's words brought a chuckle to the assembled legislators, lobbyists and journalists at today's press conference. Herrod blushed a bit, smiled sheepishly and explained that he wants Utah to adopt the European attitude toward drunk drivers, not drinking in general.

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, politics, Utah Legislature

Utah State Sen. John Valentine (pictured), R-Orem, has thrown a new anti-alcohol bill into the mix, aimed at protecting our precious youth from the dastardly sight of a restaurant worker mixing a cocktail.

The bill, SB187, would make it illegal for a restaurant to prepare a drink where patrons could see it - and mandates 10-foot walls to block the view.

Valentine's bill also widely expands the definition of legal intoxication, to include "easily observed outward manifestations of behavior or physical signs produced by the over-consumption of an alcoholic beverage." It's a definition so broad and vague that even acting a little quirky or exuberant could be interpreted as drunkenness.

Meanwhile, as the Tribune's Dawn House reports, the legislature is planning to cut funding for a successful ad campaign aimed at curbing teen drinking.

Inspired by Sen. Valentine, I offer this proposal: The state should erect a 10-foot wall in the Utah House and Senate galleries, so children won't be exposed to erratic behavior. Also, people could receive citations to people who exhibit "easily observed outward manifestations of behavior or physical signs produced by legislating or the over-consumption of self-righteous rhetoric."

Labels: alcohol laws, Utah Legislature

The Utah Legislature delights in teasing us, holding out hope that some progressive bit of legislation might make it through to becoming a law - only to pull it away, like Lucy Van Pelt's football just before Charlie Brown is about to kick it.

So the news Monday that the House Business and Labor Committee voted 8-5 to approve HB347, which would put an end to Utah's idiotic system of "private clubs" selling hard liquor, should be met with a bit of hope and a whole lot of skepticism.

For one thing, the anti-alcohol crusaders aren't going to stop fighting - and their allies could easily block the bill on the House floor or in the Senate. For another, the idea that club memberships would be replaced by electronic scanners that read your driver's licence (and then store the information for a week) borders on the Orwellian.

The move has the backing of Gov. Jon Huntsman, who on his recent trip to D.C. became quite the media star - appearing on MSNBC to talk about his fellow Republicans' resistance to President Barack Obama's stimulus plan, dissing GOP congressional leaders to both The Washington Times and Politico. (Between these remarks and his recent endorsement of civil unions for gay couples, Huntsman soon may become more popular outside the Utah Republican Party than in it.)

Apparently being a reasonable-sounding Republican is sort of like a talking dog - so unusual it's newsworthy.

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, Jon Huntsman, politics, Utah Legislature

If you had to choose the dumbest aspect of Utah's liquor laws (I know, so many options), the idea of putting up a barrier to block restaurant patrons' view of the bar is a strong contender.

So what does Senate President Michael Waddoups (R-14th Century) want to do? He wants to make the barrier, the so-called "Zion Curtain," more impermeable.

According to this Deseret News account, the Utah Senate's Administrative Rules Committee will consider the possibility of adding rules to prevent minors in restaurants from seeing alcoholic beverages prepared.

Said Waddoups:

"Restaurants are turning into bars. It's making it look attractive. Kids see it and wonder what they're missing. I think we need to be a little more strict."

Yeah, because nothing stops childhood curiosity like hiding something from the little buggers. You start mixing drinks in the back room, and kids will think there's a mini-Hogwarts back there. Then they'll really wonder what they're missing, Senator.

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws

Don't count out Utah private clubs - and their annoying and antiquated rules of membership fees and wink-wink sponsorships - just yet.

Despite efforts by Gov. Jon Huntsman and the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to reform the rules, Republicans in the Utah Senate want to keep the idiotic laws exactly as they are.

"Unless we find something better that protects our children and protects us from drunken drivers, we want no change in private club memberships," Senate President-elect Michael Waddoups told the Tribune's Dawn House. "Someday we may find a better solution, but it hasn't even been suggested at this point."

The problem is Utah's liquor laws don't protect children and motorists. They just irritate those who drink and remind them they are an oppressed minority in this predominantly Mormon state.

Sometimes, the laws cooked up by Utah's control-freak legislators do more harm than good.

Take, for example, this year's legislation to ban flavored malt beverages - a k a "alcopops" - from Utah's supermarkets. The idea was to keep underage customers from sneaking a six-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade past an unsuspecting grocery clerk (something that could not happen, since the scanners at checkout flag alcohol purchases, no matter how well disguised the product).

Did the law keep these "cheerleader beers" out of young drinkers' hands? No. Here's what happened: Instead of having an older brother or frat brother go to Albertson's to buy 3.2 drinks, that older person now goes into a state liquor store and buys "alcopops" with a 5 percent alcoholic content - thus ensuring the drinker gets drunk faster.

Here's the early clue that "protecting children" wasn't really the drive for the "alcopops" ban: When the law went into effect in October, supermarkets had to destroy their remaining inventory - while the state liquor stores were allowed to sell off what they had in stock.

When the Utah Legislature starts talking about "protecting children," they really mean they're protecting the state's monopoly on liquor sales.

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, LDS, politics

For years, it was illegal to advertise hard liquor in Utah.

Bars couldn't even hang a "Budweiser" sign in the window. Port o' Call had the word "Ghosts" in its sign, because it couldn't use the word "spirits."

A convenience store on North Temple for years displayed a large sign that read "Cold Beer Nuts" (though the word "Nuts" was in much smaller print) on one side, and "Cold Bee? - Welcome to Utah" on the other. The store kept a case of Beer Nuts and a small plush-toy bee in the freezer, lest it be accused of false advertising.

The law against liquor ads was struck down by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2001, following a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar Rhode Island law.

Now, quietly, the state of Utah has taken the position of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

As the Tribune's Dawn House reports today, the state has started running ads - one of them in last week's Salt Lake City Weekly - touting discounts at the state's liquor stores.

The ads "have been long overdue in coming," said City Weekly Publisher Jim Rizzi.

(Photo: Paul Fraughton/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, City Weekly

It's only three days until Repeal Day - so everyone prepare to hoist a drink in celebration.

Repeal Day marks the 75th anniversary of the day the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified - ending Prohibition and again allowing the sale of alcohol.

Here's the punchline: The 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, the one that put the repeal over the top, was tee-totalling Utah.

The place of the Prohibition movement in Utah's history is a fascinating one. Thanks to Prohibition, the state government now holds an iron-fisted monopoly over liquor sales in Utah. But, in the drive to repeal Prohibition, the anti-alcohol leadership of the LDS Church proved itself not always in control of the will of Utah voters.

Read all about it in this story in today's ink-and-paper Tribune.


(Photo: Utah Liquor Company store window, 1914, by Harry Shipler, courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society)

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, LDS

The reputation of Utah's ridiculously restrictive liquor laws took a hit in Australia this weekend, thanks to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Travel writer Rachael Oakes-Ash was ready for an alcohol-free trip to Park City: "Rumour had it the bars in the ski resort town of Park City served water instead of vodka. Not even the state's reputation for metres and metres of the world's driest powder every winter was enough to lure me across the Pacific if there was no chance of gluhwein to warm my toes."

But Oakes-Ash learned differently. "As it turns out, Park City has more ways to get sozzled in the Mormon state than any other Utah destination. The illicit myth just makes it twice the fun."

Oakes-Ash then explains how to order a "sidecar," and how bartenders get around the alcohol-content limits by calling liqueurs - such as Cointreau or Kahlua - as "flavorings."

So, if you see a heavy concentration of inebriated Australians on Park City's Main Street this winter, now you know why.

Labels: alcohol laws

If you're hoarding Bacardi Silver or Tequiza, hang onto it. Most stocks of flavored malt beverages in Utah are running out, reports the Tribune's Dawn House, thanks to new restrictions against the products.

The new law went into effect on Oct. 1, banning flavored malt beverages from Utah's supermarkets and convenience stores - and requiring restrictive labels on the products sold in state liquor stores. So far, no products with the new labels have been ordered, and some manufacturers say it's cheaper just to skip Utah than comply with the new labeling.

Here's an interesting wrinkle to the new law: The supermarkets and convenience stores, which sold products with 3.2 percent alcohol, had to return or destroy their stocks on Oct. 1 - but the state stores, which sell stronger products, can keep selling them until the stash runs out.

Typical Utah hypocrisy: In the name of "protecting your children," the state will sell stuff that gets you drunker faster, because they can make money on the deal.

(Photo: Dawn House, The Salt Lake Tribune)

Labels: alcohol laws

Gov. Jon Huntsman predicted that Utah's image would take a hit because of the state's strict new regulations on flavored malt beverages - a de facto ban, since manufacturers would rather skip the state than pay for expensive new labeling.

Huntsman, it appears, predicted correctly. Here's some comments blowing around the blogosphere:

• Out of Control, the blog for the libertarian Reason Foundation: "Billed as an attempt to keep alcohol away from minors, the move smacks of monopolization."
• Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton: "Do y'all in Utah even really care? Jesus drank wine! If he were alive today, he'd drink a Smirnoff Ice!"
• The legal blog QuizLaw: "Actually, I agree with Utah’s ban. But not because I disapprove of alcohol geared toward minors, but because fruity drinks suck. Seriously: Mike’s Hard Lemonade? Give me a break. On the other hand, if you see a guy with Smirnoff’s Ice or Seagram’s Fuzzy Navel, you know exactly who to beat up before the night is over."

Labels: alcohol laws

A new law banning flavored malt beverages - brands like Zima, Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade - from Utah supermarkets and convenience stores goes into effect today.

And because of the Utah Legislature's ludicrously restrictive new labeling laws - which require the product's alcohol content printed in large letters on the front of the bottle - some manufacturers will not sell them anywhere in Utah (even the state-run liquor stores).

"Thanks to the Legislature, Smirnoff Ice is no longer available in Utah," Zsoka McDonald, spokeswoman for Diageo, one of the world's largest multinational beer, wine and spirits firms, told the Associated Press. "It's just not cost effective."

The state is selling off what supplies it has now, and won't order more until (or unless) manufacturers comply with the new labeling rules.

Here's the telling passage from the AP's story: "Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman said banning products like Zima, Smirnoff Ice and Seagram's Fuzzy Navel from grocery stores would harm Utah's image, but agreed to it in exchange for increasing the amount of liquor allowed in shots and standard cocktails to 1.5 ounces, up from 1 ounce."

There you have it in a nutshell: Huntsman and the Utah Legislature are willing to look like morons and restrict legal products from the citizenry - all to keep expensive booze flowing to out-of-town businesspeople being wooed to move to Utah.

The rich get drunker, and the working folks go dry.

Labels: alcohol laws, politics

Could it be possible? Some sanity in Utah liquor laws?

The Utah Alcoholic Beverage Commission got an earful at a public hearing Monday (dutifully and expertly covered by the Tribune's Mike Gorrell), from people who want the state's laws to start making some more sense - and by those who like the confusion just fine.

One example is the "Zion Curtain," the barrier - sometimes frosted glass or plexiglas - between the bar and the dining section of a restaurant. "The Zion Curtain issue is very, very confusing," said Hans Fuegi of the Utah Restaurant Association, noting such provisions as the ban on restaurant bartenders handing a drink over the bar to a customer.

A common complaint is that Utah's liquor laws hurt tourism, because out-of-staters get confused by the weird laws and decide never to come back to the Beehive State. This may be true, but I'm weary of the argument. How about allowing sensible liquor laws for the benefit of those of us who live here? Is that too much to ask?

Labels: alcohol laws

The prevailing thought in Utah is that the byzantine "private club" laws, which require drinkers to jump through many hoops (such as signing up for a "membership") to get a drink in a bar, would never be changed unless the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it was OK.

A statement issued Monday by LDS leaders could signal that the church is not opposed to such a change, according to people interviewed by the Deseret News' Lisa Riley Roche.

Here's the key part of the statement that Gov. Jon Huntsman's office called "encouraging" and Sam Granato, head of the state's liquor commission, called "a healthy step":

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that Utahns, including those who work in the hospitality industry, can come together as citizens, regardless of religion or politics, to support laws and regulations that allow individual freedom of choice while preserving Utah’s proven positive health and safety record on limiting the tragic consequences of overconsumption of alcohol.

"This is huge. This is what everyone was waiting for," said Lisa Marcy McGarry, representing the Utah Hospitality Association. "A large majority of our Legislature is going to listen to the words of advice given by the LDS Church."

Don't start pouring yet, though. Any bill still has to go through the Utah Legislature - for whom "byzantine" is standard operating procedure - early next year.

Labels: alcohol laws, LDS

Molly Ivins, bless her soul, used to call it "the law of unintended consequences" - the fact that people who write our laws sometimes, even if their hearts are in the right places, don't always think through the domino effect of their modest proposal.

That appears to be the case with flavored malt beverages - sometimes called "alco-pops" or "cheerleader beer" - that will be barred from Utah grocery stores and convenience stores starting Oct. 1.

The law, passed this last legislative session, says such flavored beverages - which includes Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver and even Bud Light Lime - can only be sold in state liquor stores (where the markup is 85 percent). Gov. John Huntsman supported the change, in order to get a change in the law to allow stiffer drinks in private clubs.

And because the law requires new labeling and packaging, according to the Tribune's Dawn House, the major beer makers who market such products probably will skip Utah altogether.

"All Anheuser-Busch flavored malt beverages will no longer be available in Utah," Michael Brennan, president of General Distributing Co., the state's largest beer distributor, told House. "I don't think the public understands that 3.2 flavored beverages will be gone."

And that, according to Jim Olsen, president of the Utah Food Industry Association, may have been legislators' intent all along. Olsen said that some advocates of the law intended "to eliminate flavored malt beverages from Utah. Period."

Here's where the unintended consequences come in: If you go into a liquor store looking for one of these "alco-pops" and can't find any, maybe you'll buy some hard-liquor alternative - for example, peach schnapps or Southern Comfort - which will get you drunker faster before driving home. All this so Gov. Huntsman can get potential investors from out-of-state liquored up enough to do business in the state.

Score another point for the Utah Legislature in their ongoing effort to "fix" our alcohol laws and make things worse.

Labels: alcohol laws

My Tribune colleague Dawn House reports happy news for Utah residents who want to be treated like adults: The state's liquor control commissioners are recommending the end of Utah's byzantine system of private-club membership.

For those who have never tried to buy anything harder than apple juice in Utah, private clubs are sort of a legalized speakeasy system in which patrons had to pay a fee - either an annual membership, or short-term stays - just to get into a bar that served hard liquor.

On Wednesday, the Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission voted 4-1 to direct staff members to write legislation, to be submitted at January's session of the Utah Legislature, that would essentially turn private clubs into public bars. The board also voted to do away with the "Zion Curtain," the ridiculous requirement of partitions between the bar and the restaurant sections of an establishment.

The legislation has the support of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who says Utah's complicated and confusing liquor laws are hurting tourism.

But don't get your hopes up yet, imbibers of Utah. Opponents of the change, including representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, are pushing an alternative: A "welcome card," so tourists could pay a one-time membership fee to get into any private club for two weeks. Utah residents, apparently too immature to be trusted with this onerous responsibility without going on immediate drinking binges, would be denied this service.

MADD has a powerful ally in House Speaker Greg Curtis (pictured), who said he leans toward the "welcome card" proposal. Quoting the Tribune story:

Curtis, a Sandy Republican, expressed concern about any change to liquor laws, saying he is fearful that if membership requirements are abolished, imbibers, especially young drinkers, will barhop "buying three drinks here, there and everywhere." "Those same drinkers could also get behind the wheel, causing more drunk-driving accidents."

Having tourists go bar-hopping and smashing up their rental cars, though, is OK with Curtis. So is trusting out-of-staters over his own neighbors.

Labels: alcohol laws