Beer Rules (!)

[patric]

I dont think the Associated Press could have screwed up this story more had they actually tried:


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State liquor regulators have voted to keep rules that require beer wholesalers to help preserve the quality of strong beer.

The Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission voted 5-1 Friday to retain beer quality rules.

Beer makers say it's important that wholesalers rotate and refrigerate beer to help keep it fresh. State law prohibits retail liquor stores from refrigerating beer and many do not rotate their bottled beer supplies.

Three beer wholesalers in Oklahoma City and Tulsa asked the ABLE Commission to strike the rule. They say competition will determine how wholesalers maintain fresh beer products and the producers shouldn't be telling them what to do.


So, is the story that Okla wholesalers dont want to keep their stock in good condition per brewery instructions, or that ABLE is contradicting itself, or what the h&ll is the story here?

[cannon_fodder]

I think this is probably a story about the deteriorating conditions of our nations news reporting.  A sad retort of the "we make a cheaper and inferior product and then make more money not he long run" thinking.  Which, of course, worked out well for Schlitz, the US Automotive industry, and Kmart.

On the substantive issue...  who cares?  

* The distributors want to be kept in the loop with laws that serve no purpose to the consumer.

* Liquor Stores want to cut out the distributors to make more money while keeping super markets out of the loop and really don't care about the consumers

* Ultra conservatives and MADD want to enforce their beliefs on other people and will support whichever side in either argument makes alcohol more expensive, less convenient, or of poorer quality

* Law makers will take whatever side will bennefit them the most with either their contributors or electoral base, and don't really care about the bigger pictures

and each and every group involved will contradict itself in the other side of the argument if it helps reach their goals.

Yet another great reason less government is good government.  At the end of the day we the consumer end up with less choice, fewer locations to buy, more expense... and the same level of abuse.  Woohoo!  U.S.A, U.S.A!

[EricP]

"On the substantive issue... who cares?" Also, no reason to change the current laws?

Because they RUIN MY ****ING BEER. Period. Stop babysitting drunken jackasses that are a waste of oxygen, let them drive their stupid asses into a tree and die and let me have my beer that doesn't taste like warmed-over elephant dung because it has been PROPERLY REFRIGERATED AND CARED FOR. The government has no business limiting the quality of something I can buy anyway. If Drunken Joe white trash is willing to spend the extra $2 for better beer, he is probably willing to just buy a bottle of Everclear before he crashes his 1984 buick into a police cruiser driving the wrong direction on highway 51.

48 other states in the *#T^!@$@#^!@# union can manage this, why does Oklahoma have to be one of the backwards donkey states that can't handle having COLD BEER that doesn't taste like cow piss!? I took a trip to Washington, DC and you could order WINE at McDonalds. I am pretty sure Jesus came down and strangled me with his bare hands for seeing that option on the menu.

The only thing that will fix this abomination is the abolition of these completely baseless, bull#@!# bureaucratic arms of the government that don't belong telling me what I can do being dissolved and obliterated entirely. The only things that they deserve to have control over is the location of their own bull****, flowing freely out of their biased mouths.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

EricP, your rant is a great testament to keeping the current beer laws as they are.  I am not a beer drinker, and I couldn't care less about Oklahoma beer laws, but your narative keeps me all in favor of keeping things just as they are today.

Would you have a more open mind if this were something that actually affected you?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

I think this is probably a story about the deteriorating conditions of our nations news reporting.  A sad retort of the "we make a cheaper and inferior product and then make more money not he long run" thinking.  Which, of course, worked out well for Schlitz, the US Automotive industry, and Kmart.

Something about that paragraph made me think of Callahan Auto Parts in Sandusky, Ohio... []

Oklahoma has some really strange alcohol laws.  Regardless of what temperature beer is sold at, the alcohol content, how late, or what days you can or cannot buy it does not seem to affect drunk driving rates, teen pregnancy, babies being born naked, or the amount of blue in a Picasso painting.

We truly do have some weird blue laws in this state which need to be looked at.  We really do have some liquor laws which are almost like laws prohibiting using a lawn mower as a hedge trimmer.  Allow common sense to dictate the alcohol laws in Oklahoma, not antiquated  thinking.

[Breadburner]

Able needs to be abolished.....

[Mike G]

quote:Originally posted by Breadburner

Able needs to be abolished.....

For some reason I think I heard they are talking about that already.  Dividing the responsibilities to the tax commission and some other agency.

[TheTed]

I'll continue buying most of my beer in other states until we as a state join the 1970s.

Kids can go to a night club that serves 3.2 beer, but I can't buy a cold, nonskunkified beer.

There is a lot of backwardness in this state, but that is one of the worst examples of what's wrong with this state.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by Mike G

quote:Originally posted by Breadburner

Able needs to be abolished.....

For some reason I think I heard they are talking about that already.  Dividing the responsibilities to the tax commission and some other agency.

They're shifting it to the narcotics agency, since they have such a successful track record.

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

This beer temperature issue has made the news here on and off for 50 years.  Oklahoma law requires liquor stores to sell all products at room temperature.  That is why the big mass brewers pulled all their stronger beer products from Oklahoma 30 years ago.

When the original regs were written for liquor stores back in 1959, temperance was a priority, hence the temperature rules.  Any beverage product over 3.2 percent alcohol by weight, must be sold in liquor stores at room temperature.  This rule has held for 50 years, and obviously serves the liquor stores well, but I also think there is general public benefit too.  I see no reason to change the current regs.

That's NOT why the mass producers don't sell beer in liquor stores.

Oklahoma law also dictates that you can't grant franchises at the wholesale level for distribution of liquor. The big beer producers make a lot of money from the sale of franchise fees and have therefore made the decision to only sell beer at less than 3.2% by weight to maintain their ability to sell franchises in Oklahoma.

The beer not being cold has nothing to do with their decision. The beer sold in Oklahoma in excess of 3.2% in liquor stores is all pasteurized so it is not harmed by being stored warm. Oklahoma is impacted by the law over warm sales in that some small producers that don't pasteurize can't sell beer in Oklahoma, at least not in liquor stores (these producers can sell in bars and restaurants in Oklahoma where the beer is refrigerated for sale).

[EricP]

quote:Originally posted by swake
The beer sold in Oklahoma in excess of 3.2% in liquor stores is all pasteurized so it is not harmed by being stored warm.

I beg to differ. Either way, the way I look at it is that this is excessive government regulation. Stop telling me what I can drink and at what temperature it can be sold at. It drives away some of the best brews.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

the way I look at it is that this is excessive government regulation. Stop telling me what I can drink and at what temperature it can be sold at. It drives away some of the best brews.

Sadly, the people that cripple our microbrewery and tourism economies will boast about how many lives they think they are saving.

[Conan71]

Patric, that's the rub as I see it.  Traffic enforcement of DUI has saveed a lot more lives  than closing liquor stores at 9pm and archaic laws about high point beer.

[EricP]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Patric, that's the rub as I see it.  Traffic enforcement of DUI has saveed a lot more lives  than closing liquor stores at 9pm and archaic laws about high point beer.

Let's do a survey of DUI drivers and ask them how many are microbrew buyers and how many are stumbling idiots coming home from bars clubs, drinking 3 point and mixed drinks. Grr.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Patric, that's the rub as I see it.  Traffic enforcement of DUI has saveed a lot more lives  than closing liquor stores at 9pm and archaic laws about high point beer.

Let's do a survey of DUI drivers and ask them how many are microbrew buyers and how many are stumbling idiots coming home from bars clubs, drinking 3 point and mixed drinks. Grr.

I'm sure a % of drunk drivers are people who ran out and were going back to the store to get more, but not the largest %.  I used to follow the stats a lot closer.  

DUI's a whole other issue.  There's no excuse for it.  A cab ride is a whole lot cheaper and safer for everyone.