Liquor sales banned...

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Originally Posted by ILLfarmboy

And perhaps more troubling, it sounds like there is perhaps a racial edge to this particular issue akin to the antiquated laws in the Old West that forbade the selling of whiskey to Indians.

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Maybe it does have such an 'edge' as you say in some parts of the country or county/city/town. Not my intent to branch this thread off into another, more proper category of this forum for such discussions.......but, I have seen such actions & heard this argument in other places in which I have lived. To be more frank, I am speaking of municipalities where malt liquor sales were either discouraged or regulated to some degree in predominately African-American communities in the name of curbing crime. Now, that was never the spoken word.....but, discussing the subject with former co-workers at the time who were from said community, it was certainly implied by the local powers-that-be by their actions against sellers of alcohol in that particular area of town.

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Originally Posted by ILLfarmboy

Not being a beer drinker I have no idea what makes malt liquor malt liquor. I find the term confusing for two reasons. Isn't all beer made from barley malt and doesn't liquor generally refer to distilled spirits not fermented beverages?

And perhaps more troubling, it sounds like there is perhaps a racial edge to this particular issue akin to the antiquated laws in the Old West that forbade the selling of whiskey to Indians.

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It's a tax classification item. In some states, more than 6% can no longer be called beer, but malt liquor. Ironically, these strong malt liquors are usually made with more sugar than malt, which makes them cheaper to produce.

Similarly, in some states, a malt beverage with more than a certain percent of alcohol, again typically six percent, must be labeled "ale." This is an artifact from the old days, when ales were stronger than lagers. So you have the strange anomaly of German bock and doppelbock beers, which are definitely lagers, being labeled ales because they are too strong to be labeled beer.

Texas is a prime driver of these silly labeling laws.

And I agree, that there seems to be a racist edge to this. Malt liquor, especially in the 40 oz. bottles, is marketed to and bought heavily by inner city African-Americans.

Jeff

Thanks for the explanation, Jeff.

Not being a beer drinker I was unaware of these differences. I have to admit if I had a glass of lager and a glass of ale sitting in front of me, I wouldn't be able to tell you which was which. I just never acquired a taste for beer. Not that I'm against trying new things. Last year I ordered a bottle of Killian's Irish Red in a bar. I found it not to my liking. Sort of like the fact that every five or six years I give beets a try, just to see if I still don't like 'em.

I lived in the coal fields of E. KY, WV, & VA for a while. Some of the counties took a slightly different approach to wet/dry. For example: Pike County (one of the largest counties of any state E. of the Mississippi River) was dry in all jurisdictions excepting the city limits of Pikeville, the county seat (more than 40 miles from some parts of the county). Whitesburg had a winery but otherwise Letcher county, including Whitesburg itself, was dry excepting the premises of the winery. Some equally strange measures existed in other counties across the coal fields.

Cities in KY that have their own police force are allowed to have wet/dry vote. These are then referred to as "moist".

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Originally Posted by RoyalWater

I lived in the coal fields of E. KY, WV, & VA for a while. Some of the counties took a slightly different approach to wet/dry. For example: Pike County (one of the largest counties of any state E. of the Mississippi River) was dry in all jurisdictions excepting the city limits of Pikeville, the county seat (more than 40 miles from some parts of the county). Whitesburg had a winery but otherwise Letcher county, including Whitesburg itself, was dry excepting the premises of the winery. Some equally strange measures existed in other counties across the coal fields.

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Just FYI, Whitesburg just voted in liquor by the drink inside the city limits. I know, I couldn't believe it myself. There is now a little place in the middle of Main street that actually carries a good selection of bourbon and beer, and very reasonable prices. I can't remember the name.

Actually it is SECO that has the winery. I know the owner. The wine he produces is extremely limited by the fact that he MUST grow all of his grapes on his property. Needless to say that the wines are somewhat lacking.

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Originally Posted by ILLfarmboy

Sort of like the fact that every five or six years I give beets a try, just to see if I still don't like 'em.

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You're trying them too often:lol:

Man I hate Beets :puke:

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Originally Posted by jeff

You're trying them too often:lol:

Man I hate Beets :puke:

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I never liked beets either. But then my wife got me into them by putting them in a salad. I love them now.

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Originally Posted by NickAtMartinis

I never liked beets either. But then my wife got me into them by putting them in a salad. I love them now.

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Not me. I keep trying them for some reason, more often than every five or six years, and they still taste like dirt to me.

Beets may be the only food I don't like.

Of course, I haven't yet tried sea cucumber.

Jeff

We have unusual situation in the county in which I live in Tennessee. Beer sales and consumption are allowed. Liquor sales and consumption have always been prohibited.

Last year the state legislature passed what is called the Tennessee River Resort Distric (TRRD) act.

This act only applies to counties in which the Tennessee River either borders or crosses and municipalities within those counties who's city limits are within 3 miles of the nearest bank of the Tennessee River.

There are only nine counties in the state that meet the requirements of the TRRD act. For each of these counties that elect to accept the TRRD act they can then issue licenses to bars, restaurants and clubs to sell liquor by the drink. However the said bars restaurants and clubs must be located within 3 miles of the nearest bank of the Tennessee River.

The purpose behind the TRRD act was to improve tourism in the 9 economically depressed counties that border or is crossed by the Tennessee River. The liquor by the drink option was created to give incentive to some of the big name restaurants and hotels to locate in these areas as they would not consider it if liquor by the drink remained prohibited.

There are a couple of other things as well such as each county and qualifying municipality gets to retain 4.59% of the total sales tax (for everything sold, not just liquor) that would otherwise go to the state provided that 1/2 of that retained sales tax is spent on tourism development.

The funny thing about this issue was that most people did not care about the economic benefits that this could bring to these counties. They only seemed concerned about the fact that the evil liquor was going to be sold here. Many were opposed to it on that issue alone.

This act was approved last year and tonight I went and had dinner in a restaurant that served liquor by the drink in my own county for the first time in the twenty years I have been here.