OK. Now I happen to live in the only (I think) state where mixed drinks are made only with mini-bottles–no free pour.
Here’s the question for drinkers:
Do you have anything against the concept of the mini-bottle? I’m not a drinker, so I don’t have a preference either way. I would think that with a mini-bottle you have a guarantee of a certain potency of liquor–whereas with free-pour, maybe you get a little more, maybe you get a little less.
The reason I ask this is that a number of times I’ve been in restaurants, and overheard some customer commenting on “how strange it [using mini-bottles] is.”
Could it have something to do with the legality of serving alcohol vs. selling package liquor? I know in many areas it’s legal to serve alcohol in a restaurant or bar, but you can’t sell actual packaged adult beverages.
I understood that in mini-bottle areas, it was legal to sell package liquor, but not legal to serve it, so restaurants and bars get around the law by acting as a type of full service liquor store where you just happen to be allowed to open and consume your purchase on the premises. A friend from Virginia told me this, so I don’t know if it’s the same as SC or not…
The extra packaging in those mini-bottles has to be costly… I’m guessing it’s to prevent generous bartenders giving you an extra quarter-ounce in your rum & Coke… Takes all the fun out of bar drink, IMO. What’s the point of being a pretty girl if you don’t get an extra slug of whatever in your pretty red fruity drink from the bartender who’s flirting with you?
Umm, I live in South Carolina, home of the mandated mini-bottle. My theory–never officially acknowledged by our lawmakers–is that one of the legislators owned substantial shares in the mini-bottle factory when this law was enacted. Really, it’s just more of the same enforced morality that they love to propagate here in the Bible belt.
My first time to SC had me shocked when I realized every bar stocked those mini-bottles! What a huge pain in the ass it must be for the bartender! The restocking alone must be a bitch.
If they’re concerned about bartenders overpouring drinks, lots of places use those automatic pre-measured shot contraptions attached to regular sized bottles.
I say little bottles belong on airlines and BIG bottles (with a heavy-handed bartender) belong in bars!
from a bartender, I was amazed by the way I saw drinks when I visited SC. the time it took to make one drink would drive me nuts and all of the bartenders had to tape up their hands so they didn’t get torn to pieces. Like mentioned before, the automatic shot contraptions do exist and they work. they are also a pain in the ass but they take less time and that means that you can make more drinks and make more money for the owner.
We were amazed when we moved to SC and saw the “airplane bottles” in all of the bars. I suppose it serves some purpose (When I asked, someone told me it was because they could tax each bottle separately, but I don’t know if that’s true.), but I always liked being able to be friendly with or tip the bartender extra and get either stronger drinks or free drinks over the evening.
I thought (and still think) that it was an odd law when I got here. I think South Carolina is the only state that does this. Someone told me that it generated more tax revenue (I’m not sure how, or if this is true). I find it to be a pain when you want to get a mixed drink with more than one liquor. It’s quite expensive to drink in this state. In general, there seems to be a backwards mentality in South Carolina (You can ride a motorcycle without a helmet but tattooing is illegal). I’m looking forward to moving to Georgia or North Carolina in the next few years - I’m sure their drinks are cheaper ;).
I bartend for a restaraunt with stores both in and (mostly) out of SC. From what I have been told the mini bottles are a way of controlling the alcohol consumption. You can’t pour a shot with 2-3 different forms of alcohol without opening…and charging for each bottle. This policy makes “tasty” shooters cost an outlandish amout.
Also I seem to remember that the packaging cost makes it prohibitive to offer the happy hour 2-4-1 specials.
Beer, wine, and the “lighter” stuff can be sold just about anywhere (assuming they have a license). There’s some strange rule about liquors and other distilled spirits not being allowed to be sold in grocery stores, for example, but I’ve seen that elsewhere, too. You see some buildings that have a partition and separate entrances with liquor sold on one side and “everything else” sold on the other.
This is just a guess, but I’m thinking it might be about limiting consumption. I don’t see how it could relate to tax revenues, since they can’t tax a mini-bottle as much as a large one.
My GF and I live in South Charlotte and sometimes go to a Chinese restaurant in SC and it never ceases to amaze me to walk in and see 10,000 of those little bottles lining the wall.
I think it’s partially about controlling how much people will drink - this is part of the Bible Belt, some of our legislators seem to think drinking is immoral. A lot of counties won’t sell alcohol on Sundays. (Hint to lawmakers: If I want a glass of wine on Sunday, I buy a bottle on Saturday or I just drive 2 miles to the next county - your tactics aren’t working ;)).
And, it’s also about making more $$$ - as keturah said, a mixed shot gets very expensive.
Yeah, some of the coastal counties receive some dispensation on Sunday (store) alcohol sales, presumably so as not to appear too, too, backward to their livelihood (tourism, that is).
The counties around Cola don’t sell alcohol on Sunday, Mjollnir?
Jeez - it’s more straight laced than I realized here. I guess the college kids just do like I do, buy on Saturday.
belong in bars!