Yee haw, it's about time.

And in a bit of irony, Utah's new DUI limit of .05 bac just went into effect.

Bill introduced to get rid of 3.2 beer in Utah
POSTED 12:49 PM, FEBRUARY 1, 2019, BY BEN WINSLOW, UPDATED AT 12:50PM, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill is being introduced on Utah’s Capitol Hill to eliminate 3.2 beer in Utah.


Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, told FOX 13 in an interview Friday morning the bill would raise the alcohol content from 3.2% to 4.8% by weight. It’s an industry standard that would allow for major beer distributors to keep providing brands to grocery and convenience stores.

FOX 13 first reported in 2017 that Utah faced disappearing beer products from store shelves as more states stopped selling 3.2 beer. Oklahoma, the nation’s largest consumer of the weaker brews, abandoned it. So have Kansas and Colorado, leaving Utah one of the lone holdouts. Because Utah isn’t a heavy drinking state, it amounted to less than a half a percent of all beer drinkers in America.

Anheuser-Busch warned the state it was going to see a drop off in product. Since then, Walmart has pressured the Utah State Legislature to allow heavier brews in grocery and convenience stores as product started dropping off store shelves.

The Responsible Beer Choice Coalition, a group lobbying the legislature to change the law, provided FOX 13 with a list of product not available in Utah now, including:

Corona bottles in a six-pack
Bud Light six pack cans
Redd’s Apple Ale half barrel
Redd’s Raspberry Ale bottles and 16 oz. cans in 24-packs
Redd’s Blueberry Ale in 16 oz. cans in 24-packs
Some seasonal brews
Guinness 12-pack bottles
This is a breaking news story. Updates on FOX 13 and fox13now.com as information becomes available.

https://fox13now.com/2019/02/0...-of-3-2-beer-in-utah

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may be in Utah. Five years in Uintah County

I grew up in Okla. and it was a "dry" state back then. All of the beer was 3.2 "near beer". I can confirm that if you drink enough of it, you will get blitzed!!

I think going into the state liquor store in UT has still got to be one of the more surreal purchasing experiences for me. It was literally like some guys had an old garage they were selling things from. They only sold products with alcohol, no mixers. No common sense. It really came across as quite dumpy, fly by night...maybe by design.

I even had a headache with trying to buy beer at a micro brewery. They wanted something like $14 for the growler and $12 to fill it (64 oz). Or I could get a six pack to go of the same beer for $10. Sure, let me pay over twice as much for the same beer, lol.

Some weird things I tell ya. Though CO is quirky too. You can buy weed but up until this year we couldn't buy full-strength beer everywhere. Now the rules have expanded availability.

4.8 beer by weight is the same as 3.2 beer by volume.
Example Kansas uses volume while Missouri uses weight. So the beer on the Kansas side of Greater Kansas City is 3.2 while on the Missouri side is
called 5%. Some package stores in Kansas advertise
"Strong beer" and some people buy it....thinking they're getting beer stronger than 3.2.

quote:

Originally posted by Horn:
4.8 beer by weight is the same as 3.2 beer by volume.
Example Kansas uses volume while Missouri uses weight. So the beer on the Kansas side of Greater Kansas City is 3.2 while on the Missouri side is
called 5%. Some package stores in Kansas advertise
"Strong beer" and some people buy it....thinking they're getting beer stronger than 3.2.

The current law sets the limit at 3.2% by weight. It is being proposed to raise it to 4.8% by weight.

That blows. 14% limit here, craft beers out the wazoo

But will you be able to buy beer on Election Day?

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
That blows. 14% limit here, craft beers out the wazoo

I can still buy all the "strong" beer I want (craft, imported, whatever), but I can only buy them at the liquor store currently. 3.2% beer is what is sold in grocery stores and convenience stores. I don't think there is a limit to the strength of beer I can buy, only where I can buy it.

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
I grew up in Okla. and it was a "dry" state back then. All of the beer was 3.2 "near beer". I can confirm that if you drink enough of it, you will get blitzed!!

And then spend half the night peeing like a racehorse.

This would be great move on Utah's part, let's get it done. I drink only Pacifica right now and thankfully it's available at the State Store. I'm not much of an experimenter, just drink what I like.

Our local State Store is pretty new and it amazes me at what a good selection of wine and liquor it has.

To me this seems like a stupid law that the Guberment has no business in.
It may have little impact to most but still it is just unnecessary, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
I can still buy all the "strong" beer I want (craft, imported, whatever), but I can only buy them at the liquor store currently. 3.2% beer is what is sold in grocery stores and convenience stores. I don't think there is a limit to the strength of beer I can buy, only where I can buy it.

So... where do the liquor stores stand on this change? They currently benefit from the reduced competition.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
I grew up in Okla. and it was a "dry" state back then. All of the beer was 3.2 "near beer". I can confirm that if you drink enough of it, you will get blitzed!!

And then spend half the night peeing like a racehorse.

My memories of 3.2, both in Colorado and Utah, is the screaming headache hangover it produces. Fortunately (with respect to Utah), Evanston wasn’t terribly far. If we had been stopped by Utah DPS though...

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
I can still buy all the "strong" beer I want (craft, imported, whatever), but I can only buy them at the liquor store currently. 3.2% beer is what is sold in grocery stores and convenience stores. I don't think there is a limit to the strength of beer I can buy, only where I can buy it.

So... where do the liquor stores stand on this change? They currently benefit from the reduced competition.

There are no liquor stores in Utah. We have a very few state run liquor stores controlled and run by DABC. The DABC Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control. There is no competition.

Who the hell thinks ABW was a good idea? Wine, liquor is ABV in these places too, no?
5% ABV is the norm in Canada.

So not getting rid of 3.2, but providing alternatives - otherwise you couldn't get Guiness Stout.

A little update on this. Shockingly the Mormon Church has come out against this. They have a right to speak but the control they exert is why Utah has some issues. I saw in an article that 90% of Utah's lawmakers are LDS, this has to change as the population changes. The problem there is the influx of folks from outside, turning Utah blue. The Salt Lake Valley, the large population center, is blue.

quote:

Originally posted by UTsig:
A little update on this. Shockingly the Mormon Church has come out against this. They have a right to speak but the control they exert is why Utah has some issues. I saw in an article that 90% of Utah's lawmakers are LDS, this has to change as the population changes. The problem there is the influx of folks from outside, turning Utah blue. The Salt Lake Valley, the large population center, is blue.

Frankly, I'm happy with how the State is now. I don't want it to change. Yes, I'd love for the state to get rid of 3.2 beer, but not at the expense of losing some of the things that brought me to Utah and kept me here.