A decision by state liquor officials to begin enforcing a long-ignored law may raise the cost of an alcoholic drink — and some bar owners aren’t happy about it.
The law says drinking establishments can’t increase the amount of alcohol in a drink without increasing the price proportionately. It was passed in the mid-1980s when the state constitution was amended to allow residents to buy liquor by the drink at public establishments, but it has not been enforced.
Tom Groneman, director of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the law was not enforced, either because it was interpreted differently in the past, or because it was lost among several changes in liquor laws at the time.
But Groneman said enforcement will begin Aug. 1, because his division believes the requirement is clear.
“I’m sure that not everyone is too happy with that, and I can understand that,” Groneman said.
The law would require a business that charges $3 for a 16-ounce draft beer to charge $6 for a 32-ounce draft beer and $12 for a 64-ounce pitcher, The Topeka Capital Journal reported Tuesday.
The statute also applies to drinks, mixed drinks and specialty drinks, with variations for the cost of mixers and sizes.
For Town Royal co-owner Steve Corbin of Emporia, the change in enforcement will affect only beer sales. The price of drinks made of hard liquor or spirits will remain the same.
“You order a single, it’s $3.25,” Corbin said. “If you order a double, we’ve always charged double price.”
Corbin said, however, that many bar owners in Emporia and statewide using a different pricing system, adding the cost of the extra liquor to the price of a drink rather than doubling the price of a “single.”
To read complete story see the print edition or the online print edition.
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
What a silly law. It's better to order 'em small anyway (as long as the help isn't too busy to get back to you in a timely fashion) because it's less likely to get warm in your hand. The only reason I buy big draws or pitchers it to save money. I predict this will result in people buying less beer and therefore less money for the bar and less money for the State.
What do we need to do to get this ridiculous law off the books? What's next? Are they gonna do the same thing with soda pop or chicken nuggets? This law is invasive and I don't like it one bit. Whatever happened to letting a business charge what it wants for the goods that they buy and sell? It's their business; let them run it how they want!
Way to be a law-abiding citizen, Steve!
'enry
July 14, 2010 at 2:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shoehorn (anonymous) says...
To FarmRaised
hahahahahahaha!
July 14, 2010 at 3:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bloomsbury (SC DIXON) says...
My gawd, leave them alone! The puritans are at it again and, never having been much of a conspiracy theorist, it really is stating to look like they won’t be happy till they’ve bled every tavern and bar owner in the state out of business…(except of course for those state-owned casinos.)
Too bad these hypocrites can’t find something useful to do with their time before the city/County/state loose more tax revenues because of bars closing up. I thought we’d seen enough of that already.
July 14, 2010 at 3:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bloomsbury (SC DIXON) says...
Hey, Why couldn’t the bar owners just simply stop selling their 12 or 16 oz draws for whatever the price, say $3 each, and instead sell only a 64 ounce draw (in a pitcher) of certain select brands for 8 or 9 bucks?
Is there some way that would be illegal too?
July 14, 2010 at 4:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
FarmRaised,
Oh, wow, you sure got me there! NOT! Allowing a business to harm employees and customers with a SHS filled environment is NOT the same thing as allowing a business to charge whatever price they want for the goods they sell. How does giving a dollar discount on a large draft harm anyone against their will? It doesn't! Therefore you have no valid point. You forget, FarmRaised, I also like to smoke on occasion, so your implication that I only oppose intrusions that impact myself is false.
The Sunday sales ban (which I am also against) is exactly the same thing as this. I betcha the same religious kooks that came up with the Sunday sales ban invented this rule about the cost of alcohol. We don't want the dregs of society getting discounts on their large-sized beer while we're in church now do we? Punks...I wish I were around back then, I'd give 'em a piece of my mind...
'enry
July 14, 2010 at 5:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Oh my, enry,
You say " Rights " are " Rights " and now you are saying that businesses owners such as taverns and bars have the right to charge what they see fit for their product. But when it comes to a business owner allowing smoking in the businesses that they own and have started with their own money, pay taxes on, that becomes a different story indeed, to all you hypocrites. Well I am predicting right now, just wait enry there will eventually be someone who will insist on saying one of your " Rights " is not " Right " and demanding that a certain " Right " you have enjoyed, for decades, suddenly be banned/taken away and you will be forced conform to their particular view of their " Right/Rights " and that their " Right/Rights" superceeds all other peoples " Right/Rights/Freedoms and Choice, etc.
And I will also bet that if and when that happens you will scream, hollar and complain louder than anyone.
July 14, 2010 at 6:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
It would seem that the State is suddenly going to enforce a law, that hasen' t been enforced since it' s inception, because the State believes that this would be a way of getting some extra money. Well, I believe that beer and liquor by the drink sales will suffer because of it, especially beer by the pitcher sales and therefore the State will have gained nothing and the tavern and bar owners as well as beer distributors will be the real losers in this particular brain storm of the State.
July 14, 2010 at 6:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tangoarmy (anonymous) says...
I won't be going out anymore if this is the new pricing. Is the state trying to put people out of business?
July 14, 2010 at 9:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
inaweoftheblindness (anonymous) says...
Oh My...Well I haven't been to a bar since the smoking ban so this won't effect me either way. And besides, we buy our alcohol at the liquor stores and gather at friends houses and have just as much fun as we did at the bars. So many people have turned their garage into a pool hall and party shack that the bars aren't missed anymore. Most of us have the Alcohol, pool table, stereo system and a big screen tv...were not missing anything. This is just another thing to hurt the bars, it's just a matter of time till we start losing a lot of those businesses here in town too.
July 14, 2010 at 10:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
emporian (anonymous) says...
They have done a great job of trying to run the state's bars out of business. The night life in this town plummetted after the smoking ban. Its hard to draw college students with no nightlife.
July 15, 2010 at 12:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
methusla,
No one has the "right" to harm others! For the last time, IT'S NOT THE SAME THING! How can I be a hypocrite when they are completely separate issues? If there were a similar pricing law on tobacco products, I would be against that too.
inaweoftheblindness,
We haven't missed you. You claim you have "just as much fun" at home as you do at the bars, but how do you hook up with random strangers in your own home?
'enry
July 15, 2010 at 8 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
snow (anonymous) says...
Love the idea of proportionate pricing for chicken nuggets!
Government micromanaging your life.
Is that really what we want to pay for?
July 15, 2010 at 10:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
what is ironic about this is the law was intended to lesson alcohol intake and now a lot of clubs will just drop their smaller sizes and go with the larger draft.
Can't afford to drop my price of a draft beer,
Who would of thought? A pitcher of bud costing $11.00?
Can't wait for those dumbies in Topeka to raise the liquor tax.
July 15, 2010 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bloomsbury (SC DIXON) says...
I think even a small bar pays taxes in the thousands of dollars each months. The morons in Topeka, who cannot run their own “business” which is the state’s business, want to run other folks’ businesses…into the ground.
Keep it up. Keep taxing. Keep raising taxes a nickel here, a dime there, until the consumer refuses to ante up any more. The result?
A few more people lose their jobs.
Towns have more empty storefronts.
And the thousand or so dollars that the state/county/city was collecting in taxes? Well, that amount drops to ZERO! (“Waa-waa, what happened to the funding for my pet project???”)
The golden goose is dead, strangled by people who cannot otherwise live within their means.
Will the commissioners, the senators, the representatives learn that?
Apparently not. Besides, when the bars and taverns go down and the tax revenues move to border states, the geniuses in charge will just raise the sales tax and tack a bit more on to your property tax.
Seriously, folks, it is time to start getting afraid. Speak up, speak out, make your voices heard, and tell these yahoos to tend their own backyards and LEAVE INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ALONE!!!
July 15, 2010 at 11:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tangoarmy (anonymous) says...
Pretty sad if you ask me. I can't justify paying $10 and up for a pitcher of beer. Way to go State of Kansas.
July 15, 2010 at 12:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
inaweoftheblindness (anonymous) says...
HenryVIII... We haven't missed you. You claim you have "just as much fun" at home as you do at the bars, but how do you hook up with random strangers in your own home?
Who wants to meet up with random strangers? Most of us are married couples and enjoy kicking back with 10 or 15 other married couples, at whom ever's home and have a few drinks and shoot the bull. Random strangers, that sounds like singles out at the bars looking for a little fun...haha...no thanks, I damn sure don't miss that life. Who needs random strangers to have fun? You lost me on that, oh wait, I never have understood any of the silly comments you make, but thanks for the laughs.
July 15, 2010 at 11:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )