Utah Beer Fans, Rejoice!
Adventurers salivate as state moves closer to allowing full-strength beer in restaurants and bars
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For many a desert desperado or Wasatch wanderer, adventuring in Utah wilderness provides enormous highs followed by a big, fat buzzkill: After spending a weekend dirty, dusty, and bereft of comforts in an admittedly gorgeous backcountry, you emerge into Utah society thirsting for—what else?—a frosty beverage. But in most cases, you’ll weary ramblers will have to settle for…3.2 beer.
But a new, beautiful day is dawning, my sudsy friends: The Utah House passed a resolution58-2 allowing the sale of full-strength draft beer in restaurants and bars. With an overwhelming vote like that, it seems that Utah representatives want a cold one almost as badly as we do. The state Senate will vote next, and if they pass it, a communal clinking of mugs could be heard throughout the beehive state.
But in a state with a notorious aversion to vice (even ones that taste of malted hops and barley), the vote is far from a sure thing. They will also vote soon on whether restaurant bars should be forced to mix cocktails behind 10-foot high walls (to keep drink mixing away from the prying eyes of the little children, thus keeping them from turning into filthy drunks). There’s even a law on the table that would allow make it illegal to “appear drunk.”
If that last one passes, I’ll never be able to go to Utah again. People have been telling me I look drunk practically since I emerged from the womb.
Are you in favor of Utah selling full-strength beer? Cheers or jeers in the comments section below…
—Ted Alvarez
Utah House approves full-strength beer on tap (AP)
Via GetOutdoors