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Don’t drink and drive in Utah

Fijimn

Veteran Seminole Insider
May 7, 2008
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the State is lowering its blood alcohol limit to .05. Of course you shouldn’t drink and drive anywhere, but don’t use mouthwash and drive while in Utah.
 
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Years ago, I was on a work trip to Utah and stayed over Super Bowl weekend. I found it weird that I had to fill out an application and join a club to be able to get into a bar and drink. On my third schooner of beer, I didn't have a buzz yet and was talking with the bartender. He says that any non-local beer is limited to 3.2% alcohol. It turns out my Budweiser was being watered down way more than Bud Light. So, I ordered a double shot. He says shots are limited to one ounce and he isn't allowed to serve a double, but could serve a "side car". So, I ordered a shot, two side cars and a local brew.

Moral of the story ... people in Utah can't handle their alcohol and so they come up with all kinds of funny rules.
 
Years ago, I was on a work trip to Utah and stayed over Super Bowl weekend. I found it weird that I had to fill out an application and join a club to be able to get into a bar and drink. On my third schooner of beer, I didn't have a buzz yet and was talking with the bartender. He says that any non-local beer is limited to 3.2% alcohol. It turns out my Budweiser was being watered down way more than Bud Light. So, I ordered a double shot. He says shots are limited to one ounce and he isn't allowed to serve a double, but could serve a "side car". So, I ordered a shot, two side cars and a local brew.

Moral of the story ... people in Utah can't handle their alcohol and so they come up with all kinds of funny rules.
They did away with all that club stuff when they got the Olympics.
Also, that 3.2 % is by weight, which equals 4.0% abv. Coors and Bud light are 4.2% abv, so not much different.
If you order a bottle of beer, it is normal abv beer, but their draft beer is limited to 4.0 abv, but at 4000' elevation, you get more kick out of it than at sea level. Similar to drinking on an airline flight.
 
Went out to Zion a couple years ago. While I knew about some of their weird laws, there were others I had no clue about.

Main one was ordering a drink while waiting for a table at a restaurant. Usually if there is a wait, I go to the bar and order a beer while I wait for a table. When I tried to do this in Springdale, the bartender looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently you can’t be served beer from the bar unless you are sitting and eating. As many tourists as they get there, you’d think they could have something posted with the various laws.

On the flip side, when we were inside Zion NP, Utah State laws did not apply. After a long hike, we could go to the lodge, order good beer and relax on the patio with a view.
 
Years ago, I was on a work trip to Utah and stayed over Super Bowl weekend. I found it weird that I had to fill out an application and join a club to be able to get into a bar and drink. On my third schooner of beer, I didn't have a buzz yet and was talking with the bartender. He says that any non-local beer is limited to 3.2% alcohol. It turns out my Budweiser was being watered down way more than Bud Light. So, I ordered a double shot. He says shots are limited to one ounce and he isn't allowed to serve a double, but could serve a "side car". So, I ordered a shot, two side cars and a local brew.

Moral of the story ... people in Utah can't handle their alcohol and so they come up with all kinds of funny rules.
I had to join a bar to drink in Black Mountain, North Carolina, a regular stop on my motorcycle adventures. I also thought it was an odd thing. Something about not serving food, I believe.
 
Dallas had quirky laws up until the late 90's regarding alcoholic beverages as well.

I do recall being in Utah a few years ago and had no problem ordering a glass of wine with my dinner in Cedar City, a gateway town for Zion NP.
 
Dallas had quirky laws up until the late 90's regarding alcoholic beverages as well.

I do recall being in Utah a few years ago and had no problem ordering a glass of wine with my dinner in Cedar City, a gateway town for Zion NP.

A lot of Texas had quirky laws wrt alcohol. You had to buy a membership. Some counties, like Denton County had no liquor stores. Of course right over the county line into the next county were ........ you guessed it ...... liquor stores!!!
 
I remember my trip to Pittsburgh in 2013 and their very odd beer laws. Couldn’t buy a six pack in a store, but could at a restaurant or something weird like that.
 
Dallas had quirky laws up until the late 90's regarding alcoholic beverages as well.

I do recall being in Utah a few years ago and had no problem ordering a glass of wine with my dinner in Cedar City, a gateway town for Zion NP.
On a couple of trips to Utah, we mostly found alcohol available. We had beer with food at restaurants in Cedar City (good bar b q there as well), and Georgetown while visiting Zion and Bryce. My favorite that year was the Polygamy Porter.
On another trip, we visited both Wasatch and Park City breweries, as well as finding what we wanted at grocery stores.
There were some quirks, but nothing that I remember as negatively impacting our experiences.
Shoot, Georgia just started Sunday sales a few years ago.
 
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A lot of Texas had quirky laws wrt alcohol. You had to buy a membership. Some counties, like Denton County had no liquor stores. Of course right over the county line into the next county were ........ you guessed it ...... liquor stores!!!
Lubbock was semi dry, but at the city limits were a bunch of drive thru liquor stores. Lines were long on Friday nights.
 
Lubbock was semi dry, but at the city limits were a bunch of drive thru liquor stores. Lines were long on Friday nights.
I went out to one of them with my brother in law one year. They reminded me of Mike’s on Tennessee Street in Tally.
 
I remember my trip to Pittsburgh in 2013 and their very odd beer laws. Couldn’t buy a six pack in a store, but could at a restaurant or something weird like that.
Yes. Happened to me in PA recently. Guy at the gas station looked at me like i was crazy asking where the beer was. I had to go to a licensed distributor which was just a regular beer store allowed by the state.
New Hampshire has state run liqour stores at their rest stops. Fl has no beer on the turnpike rest stops. CA and LA you can by liquor at gas stations and inside grocery stores. And in New Orleans you can drink and drive with an open container, they even have drive thru daquiri stands.

Utah was weird. They didnt have bars they had social clubs and you have to get sponsored by a member to get in. At a restaurant we couldnt get a shot at the bar, we had to be seated at a table. But once at the table they made you go to the bar for the beer. Later on we were camping at moab and drank a 12 pack and couldnt get a buzz, found out we were drinking near beer.

I think SC they couldnt free poor liquor, so the bartenders had to open minis and pour them into the drinks. Somewhere in Memphis a bar actually couldnt serve alcohol. You could bring your own liqour in, but not mixers, thats what they sold. And even wierder, you had to place the bottle on its side, it couldnt be standing on the table upright.
 
Yes. Happened to me in PA recently. Guy at the gas station looked at me like i was crazy asking where the beer was. I had to go to a licensed distributor which was just a regular beer store allowed by the state.
New Hampshire has state run liqour stores at their rest stops. Fl has no beer on the turnpike rest stops. CA and LA you can by liquor at gas stations and inside grocery stores. And in New Orleans you can drink and drive with an open container, they even have drive thru daquiri stands.

Utah was weird. They didnt have bars they had social clubs and you have to get sponsored by a member to get in. At a restaurant we couldnt get a shot at the bar, we had to be seated at a table. But once at the table they made you go to the bar for the beer. Later on we were camping at moab and drank a 12 pack and couldnt get a buzz, found out we were drinking near beer.

I think SC they couldnt free poor liquor, so the bartenders had to open minis and pour them into the drinks. Somewhere in Memphis a bar actually couldnt serve alcohol. You could bring your own liqour in, but not mixers, thats what they sold. And even wierder, you had to place the bottle on its side, it couldnt be standing on the table upright.

When I was working in ATL yrs ago I went to a gas station to get beer and was about to rip the handle off the glass door. Guy behind register was like dude, it's locked. No beer on Sundays. I was flabbergasted.

I think in MI, you can buy beer at the grocery store, but it can't be stored cold. I was looking all up and down the cooler aisle for it and was told it was in the middle of the store next to the sodas on the shelves.
 
I remember the mini bottles in South Carolina from my first visit to the Esso Club.
 
I am noticing a pattern with these drinking laws.

1. Over regulations by heavy religious areas.
2. Blue collar industry towns where workers can't be hungover near the iron melting thing or machines.
 
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I am noticing a pattern with these drinking laws.

1. Over regulations by heavy religious areas.
2. Blue collar industry towns where workers can't be hungover near the iron melting thing or machines.

It all dates back to the repeal of the Volstead Act. Basically the federal government said states can dictate how they want to manage alcohol, and you got some weird results that are still applies today. Usually for political reasons alcohol rarely becomes less restrictive. It’s kind of interesting to see the weed laws of today, not legal federally but is in a lot of states, but they apply the laws differently.
 
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