I knew the distillery was in a dry country, but I didn’t know it was this bad! Does “dry county” really mean “you can’t drink alcohol in this county, not even in bars or restaurants”?
And if so, would I -a man of the world from a place where pot is legal, fercryingoutloud- not be allowed a sample glass at the distillery itself? Because that would in my humble opinion be nothing short of ridiculous!
No offense to any dry county supporters, of course. If there are any to offend.
Yep, that’s what it means to be in a dry county. No liquor, no where, no how.
Well, first of all, no, not in the case of Moore County, TN, home of Jack Daniel’s:
But, more to the point, in “dry towns” in Massachusetts anyway, you can still HAVE alcohol in your home, in the town. You just can’t purchase it. Some even allow BYOB at restaurants. Alcohol isn’t illegal, but selling it is. Huge difference :). I’d imagine it’s the same in southern dry counties, as well.
So, there’s places in the US where one is not allowed to have alcohol in ones home?? And this is the same country where people have the right to bear arms?? Why aren’t the inhabitants of these dry counties revolting? 
Oh, and I just LOVE that donation scheme Jack Daniels set up. I’ve read about it before on these boards, and one poster (I forget whom) had a great spoof on it. Something like:
**Coldfire, ** alcohol laws in the U.S. can be pretty wacky. I grew up in Evanston, Illinois, home of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Until I was in college, there were no package liquor sales, and only a handful of restaurants served alcohol, and even that was only beer and wine, and even then only if you ordered a full meal (appetizers didn’t count).
I went to grad school in Bloomington, Indiana, where there are no alcohol sales on Sundays or (oddly enough) election days. They were very strict about checking age (it being a college town), to the point that as a 26-year-old grad student, I was once carded on attempting to buy a 6-pack of IBC root beer! (Hey, it comes in glass bottles, and the label has “beer” on it, right?) And if you think that’s wacky, maybe some Utah Doper will drop by and tell you about their alcohol laws…although at least Evanston also has an anti-gun ordinance, so they’re consistent in that respect.
I’ve never heard of a place in the U.S. where it’s illegal for adults to possess alcohol in their own homes, though.
Jack and me are friends.
Gentleman Jack and me are better friends. Smoother, sweeter and oh so nice with ice. I prefer Gentleman with ice and normal with soda water and ice.
PRoblem is, is that I drink WAY too much when I do drink it. I drink my drinks, not sip them. So I’ll be pouring my 5th shot after an hour and go “Whoa, um, I’m a bit toasty. Maybe I should switch to water for a few.”
I used to be a single-malt drinker and spent my money on good whiskies. One night at a bar I taste-tested Johnny Walker Blue vs. Gentleman Jack, and I have never gone back to scotch since. I just prefer the smoother taste of Gentleman Jack.
-Tcat
I’m not a Utah Doper, but I’ve been there. I went to a brew-pub in Park City. No drinks unless you’re eating. No problem, I was hungry; so I ordered some fish’n’chips and a pint of ale. As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a drinker, so I had a few inches of ale left in my glass the next time the waitress came around. I asked for another. When she came back I was chewing on a piece of fish, and she just stood there with my fresh drink on her tray. I told her, “Thank you,” and she just stood there. Thinking I needed to clear a place for her to put the beer, I cleared a place for her to put the beer and indicated that she could put it there. She said that she couldn’t give me my beer until I finished the one I had. Seriously, I had to gulp down what was left in my first glass before she’d give me another. State law.
And once I visited a Mexican restaurant there. Ordered a margarita (with dinner, as required). Apparently there is a law that a person can have only one legally-defined “drink” at a time, so there were meters on the bottles. Really. Little counters on them. And they meted out exactly one shot of alcohol. That was the weakest margarita I’ve ever had.
I did see “liquor stores” in Park City. You need to buy a “membership” to a “private club” to buy there, and the prices seemed to be about 20%-50% higher than what I would pay at home. It’s strange to me that in Washington you have to go to a liquor store to buy spirits, instead of just picking it up at a supermarket. It’s even more strange to me that in Utah you have to pay for a veritable license to exercise your right to drink alcohol.
That’s my cue, I guess.
As Johnny L.A. mentioned it is indeed technically illegal for a person to have more then one drink in an establishment at the same time. Restaurants generally enforce this one the most, but most private clubs work around it.
The law is that the first shot that goes into a mixed drink has to be metered, and a shot in Utah is exactly one ounce, which by my reckoning is a little less then most other places I’ve been. The silly thing IIRC is that “flavourings” (basically anything after the first shot) can be poured freehand, so if you want a strong drink, just make sure it has more than one liquor in it. 
No more than one “shot” of any particualar liquor can go into one drink. Want a double? Too bad, you’ll have to get 2 single shots. Or get your J&C with a “sidecar.” You can dump it into the drink right there in front of the bartender, but if they do it, that’s illegal.
Anything over the potency of the weakest beers, 3.2% by mass, is sold at the state liquour store. So no walking into the local store to grab that bottle of Blue label, y’all. Better buy it during the day too, because many operate between 10am and 7pm, and none are open later then 9pm. Forgot to buy your liquor before that big party on Legal Holiday X? Too bad, liquor stores are closed. It’s a state agency after all.
In Utah, no liquor can be sold after 1am and before 8am(including beer at grocery stores), bars must have all the liquor locked up by 1am or face a possible fine. This applies to all days except Sunday, legal holidays, and voting days. On these days hard liquor(anything over 3.2)must be put away at midnight, but 3.2 beer can still be served until 1am. Also, on voting days, no liquor may be served in any establishment until all the polls are closed for the evening.
Want to get your customer to buy something? Don’t ask them what the want, or whether they would like a J&C, that’s illegal. But if you say “I know what you want, you want a shot of Jagermeister and a pint of Bud!”, or “You’re the guy that wants Molson Ice, right?” that is fine. :rolleyes:
You cannot server alcohol to an intoxicated person. What’s intoxicated? Well, you just have to use your best judgement. Careful, that undercover vice cop may have a different opinion of what “intoxicated” is.
And did I mention that the rules for a private club and a restaraunt are completely different? Oops, they are.
Messed up eh? If you’re morbidly facinated, the private club restrictions are here and the rest of the code is here.
I worked at a private club for quite some time and had to put up with all this wierdness. Hope I didn’t bore anyone or hijack the thread too much.
Wow. That is freaky. But then again, it IS Utah…
I love a woman that knows how to drink – whether she chooses to or not is another issue.
If you ever flush EJ, you can be SSsGirl. (Sounds kinda like “squrrel”, huh?) 
Why thank you, kind sir!
And it’s strange to me to go to New York or Virginia and see beer in the convenience stores. Here in New Jersey, I think you can only get package goods at liquor stores and some bars. In Pennsylvania, however, only the state can sell liquor at these special “state stores”, but you can get beer at places called “beer distributors”. There’s probably some odd legal reason they don’t just call them “beer stores”. But yeah, Utah sounds FUBAC. It hardly seems worth the trouble.
Well, I’m home alone again tonight, so maybe I’ll use this opportunity to take all your suggestions to heart. I think I’ll ring in the new year with Jack Daniel’s over ice. Of course that means I’ll have to make some ice. I’d better get started, only six hours until midnight after all.
Convenience stores? They’re called Bodegas
Have a shot for me, happy new year!
yeah, but even in NY the hard stuff isn’t in supermarkets. wine and beer, yeah. Someone said liquor stores are closed Sunday? Don’t thinkI ever went to one on Sunday, so it may be true.
Actually, another question about Utah liquor laws: are military bases exempt? I visited a military base in Utah once and people were just flooding in buying beer, wine and all sorts of alcohol in large quantities. In my state, you can buy pretty much whatever you want wherever you want – convenience stores gleefully sell hard liquor. There’s restrictions on times – no sales between 1 am and 6 am, 10 am on Sunday – but aside from having to have a valid liquor license, I don’t think there’s any on the place. I can’t imagine having to go to a special place just to get beer!
Oh cuauhtemoc, how’s the JD going tonight?
My goodness. I can’t remember when I’ve had me a shot of Jack Daniels Black Label. Yum. Hope you enjoy drinkin’ it, cuauhtemoc. Happy New Year!
Actually, I didn’t imbibe tonight. I went out for Chinese food and then went to the movies. I’d have one now, but I don’t want to go to bed drunk. Maybe tomorrow evening.
I believe so lel. From my understanding the military has it’s own rules about liquor, and has it available at BXs/PXs/bars on it’s own terms, regardless of state laws. Also, I always heard the servicemen that came into the club complain about the backwardness of liquor laws outside the bases in Utah, so I have always believed that it was available at any time inside the base.
To add to this, Layton, one of the cities outside Hill AFB used to have an ordinance that made it legal to purchace beer 24/7, for the servicemen in the area. Alas, it was not meant to be, as this practice has recently ceased to be allowed.
I think Michael Moore’s next film should be called Drinking for Utah. It’s gonna be great!