Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible

The cities have the ability to add extra licensure requirements, so quotas can and do exist at the city level. Further, there are strange rules about entry to taverns - for example age of entry need not be legal drinking age which differ by city. There are also city or even smaller administrative district rule over what can be sold, pricing rules (e.g. near the college campus there is a rule about the minimum price of a drink special that doesn't apply to a lot of other parts of town) and so on.

Re: Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible

#7

Post by lvh » Mon, Jun 16, 2014, 3:54 PM UTC

As a (western) European, these laws strike me as completely unnecessary and obviously damaging. The union's ad (page 2) makes no sense at all. Kids here aren't dying by the bunch, and I'm pretty sure I can buy all kinds of booze (from mixed fizzy drinks to beer and wine to hard liquor to everclear) in any arbitrary convenience store...

Re: Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible

#8

Post by tribaal » Mon, Jun 16, 2014, 3:55 PM UTC

sejje wrote: post #5

bencollier49 wrote: post #3

It made sense until he advocated home-distilling.

What's the problem with home-distilling?

Methanol.

Re: Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible

#9

Post by robflynn » Mon, Jun 16, 2014, 3:58 PM UTC

mhurron wrote: post #2

I love Blue Laws and States that dictate what can be sold in State run liquor stores. No no, really, I have exactly the same taste as some random guy in the state capital.

When I lived in Columbia, SC, we couldn't buy anything on Sunday mornings before noon. There were a few exceptions, mostly stuff like food and medicine. I tried to buy a broom and some cleaning supplies at 11am and every store that I went to told me to come back in an hour.

I felt like I was being punished for not being a church goer. It was an odd experience.

Re: Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible

#10

Post by twic » Mon, Jun 16, 2014, 4:06 PM UTC

Okay, what the heck is with this business of secondary markets for licenses in the US? You can sell a liquor license? You can sell a taxi license (aka medallion)? Why? How does treating licenses as property make any legal sense, or serve any public good?

In the UK, if you want to sell booze from your shop, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your shop out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. If you want to drive a taxi around your town, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your car out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. This seems really simple and, frankly, natural. It's how all sorts of licenses work in the private sector too - think about copyright licenses, tenancies, etc. How on earth do you get from there to licenses being a kind of property?