Friday, August 22, 2014

Things I Don't Understand


Liquor Laws
  1. A Maryland German restaurant that could serve beer and wine, was prevented by law from serving spirits because there was a church next door.
  2. A Maryland Greek restaurant applied for a one-time permit to sell alcoholic beverages under a tent in the parking lot as part of a fiesta.  They were turned down by the Alcohol Beverage Control  folks who said they'd have no means of controlling who actually would be drinking.  That same ABC Board had approved drive-through service at liquor stores all over the county.
  3. A parent in Georgia was against serving alcohol in restaurants on Sunday because she wanted to have one day of the week when she and her family could eat out without the children being exposed to alcohol. That was in the same general area where bars are known world-wide for the musicians they've spawned and billboards hawking beer and spirits blot the countryside. 
  4. A law that prevents the sale of alcoholic beverages within so many feet of a church.  In one jurisdiction it is as close as 100 feet, in another, it is 1,600 feet.  In some jurisdictions, it is measured as a radius, as in the prohibition on liquor sales within a circle with a radius of 300' from the church.   In another, the distance is measured in the distance it would take to walk from the front door of the church to the front door of the establishment wishing to sell liquor.  
  5. In Massachusetts, it is apparently OK to sell alcohol near a church unless the church objects.  
  6. In Kansas, alcohol sales are permitted on Sunday, but not on Christmas or Easter.
  7. In Louisiana, there is no state-imposed opening or closing time, so there are a number of places that sell alcohol but need no lock on the door. 
  8. In New Hampshire, bottled spirits are only sold in state-owned stores, which may be placed (and often are) in highway rest areas.
  9. In North Dakota, sale of any alcoholic beverage are prohibited after 6 PM Christmas Eve until 12 PM the day after Christmas, unless that day is a Sunday on which all sales are prohibited.
  10. Monroe County, Tennessee, where Jack Daniels whiskey is produced, is totally dry.  
  11. Puerto Rico prohibits the sale of alcohol during elections and hurricane emergencies. 
  12. In Germany, minors at age 14 are permitted to possess and consume wine and beer as long as they are with a parent, at age 16, they are permitted to drink wine and beer without a parent, and at age 18, they may drink it all, and often do.
  13. The minimum drinking age in Portugal is 16, but there is no minimum age in Jamaica.
  14. The first Kentucky whiskey was made by a Baptist minister.
  15.  Several states prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on Thanksgiving, a day set aside each year to be thankful for many things and as a means of celebrating that first Thanksgiving Feast at which there was beer, brandy, gin, and wine to drink.
The first time I was ever in Saskatchewan, I tried to drink Canada dry.