Utah relaxes its stance on alcohol regulation

Utah is not the first state you think of when you are craving a nice cold beer or a glass of wine. In fact, Utah may be the last state you think of due to its infamously strict regulation of alcohol. Until 2009, anyone who wanted a drink had to first purchase a membership at a private club (what we know commonly as a “bar”). This fee requirement had the effect of restricting patrons to one or two local bars, which, as you can imagine, decreased the amount of alcohol consumed at bars in Utah. No one wants to go for a drink at the same bar 5 nights a week. When Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. ended the old membership system in 2009, navigating the bar scene got much easier for patrons and bar owners enjoyed increased profits, free from the constraints of the fee system. However, business slumped in 2011 when Utah outlawed drink specials. Happy hours were already illegal but bar owners had managed to draw customers in with daily drink specials. Now, there’s no such thing as a $2 pint in Utah. In the same year, Utah also expanded its ban on kegs by outlawing mini beer kegs called “Chubby’s.”

Similarly peculiar are the rules governing the service of drinks in restaurants. Backroom bartenders pour the drinks and mix the cocktails behind the “Zion curtain,” out of view from customers. “Zion” refers to the powerful dry Mormon constituency in Utah and the curtain symbolizes the separation between patron and bartender in eateries. Patrons are also forbidden from ordering a “double” and must order food with their drinks. This constantly changing maze of liquor laws is tough for bar and restaurant owners, and a bit annoying to out-of-town visitors who just want a drink, but the tide may be changing.

More recently, a bill which could relax liquor laws in Utah made its way through a House of Representatives committee. HB 193, introduced by the liberal state Representative Brian Doughty, would require that at least two members of the state’s five-member Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission be “consumers of an alcoholic product.” How much alcohol one needs to consume before qualifying for the position remains unclear. Originally, the bill called for a “regular” drinker, which means “happening or occurring not less than once a month.” But that modifier was dropped in the amended version because it was too hard to define. Mr. Doughty believed that the monthly drink requirement would have ensured that whoever was hired had an up-to-date perspective on the sale and service of alcohol in the state. In an interview with the New York Times. He explains: “I didn’t want someone to be able to say, ‘I had glass of wine or a beer 10 years ago, and that makes me a consumer of alcohol.’ ” Because a majority of the state’s population is Mormon and does not drink at all, however, the modifier may be unnecessary.

If the bill passes, the hope is that liquor laws will be written in a way that does not hinder business. Already, there is a growing demand for good beers in touristy ski towns, and Utah microbreweries have answered the call. Even though beers in Utah can only contain 3.2% of alcohol if sold on tap, microbreweries like Wasatch Brewery, are undeterred and simply sell higher strength beers as liquor. Some of the favorites? Polygamy Porter and Evolution Amber Ale.