Comments

1
Mind you, the fact that underage kids will be buying cheap bottles of tequila, rum, and vodka from the corner bodega has nothing to do with this ...

Nor them puking all over the sidewalks and peeing on people's cars.
2
Their logic is flawless, because here in California, you sure as hell can't find a store to sell you a decent bottle of wine or small, crafted beer.
3
The greatest threat in a decade? Really? What was the prior landmark event that this can't even stand up to?
4
Here's another little secret about "craft beers": most of them suck ass.
5
Shock therapy comes to WA state.

Get ready for more...
6
I agree with Dougsf. Nut-up, Washington.
7
Life has worked fine in the former puritan states with more liberal booze sales. We'll survive as long as the revenues inbound to the state government stay at the levels they're at today. Other things like "protections against menu extortion" (???!) can be tweaked by our Ultra Majority legislature next session if needed.

The point that everyone will vote for is the ability to go buy a bottle of liquor at more rational hours, and for example at more than 2 (?) places downtown.
8
And, I'll point (again) to the model of what we should hope for here in Washington:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/204…

Wine & beer supermarkets. Like it or not, booze is our culture globally and has been for thousands of years. Puritans go home.
9
I small vendors want special protections in place, they should save their money and prepare to fight for them down the road.

And fuck'in hell, the name "Protect Our Communities" makes me wanna projectile vomit the Basil Haden I bought from the corner store.
10
Dougsf--I must have missed the California initiative that repealed its distribution system. That's what I-1100 would do (but not I-1105). The wineries and breweries are worried about the repeal of the current distribution system (which is the equivalent of "net neutrality"), not whether hard liquor is sold at state or private retail stores.

Sometimes it's worth understanding the implications of legislation before issuing a knee-jerk reaction. (Which is why it's often worth voting against initiatives drafted on a cocktail napkin by interested parties.)
11
@10 so the states with completely wide open booze sales are ones where smaller brewers and vineyards can't get a leg up?
12
#2: The craft beer selection does suck in California compared to Oregon and Washington. You can find good microbrews in CA, but it's a lot harder.

But it's pointless to fight these initiatives. People love buying cheap crap at Walmart and Costco.
13
As for me, I enjoy the anti-microbrews...pilners from Europe which a light and less wheaty.

So, having free market economics will benefit my few purchases.
14
@10 - Then why did they donate $1M to a group that opposes both initiatives? I don't blame them for fighting to retain their piece of the pie, and maybe neither initiative is perfect, but the current model is embarrassing.

15
Family Wineries of Washington State support 1100.

@10
1105 was written and financed by distributors who want to maintain their current monopoly. Two distributors alone, The Odom Corporation and Young's, have contributed around $2,000,000 to 1105.
16
I wish @4 wasn't correct.

But my son agrees with Fnarf.

I'll have to disinherit him.

Cider for the win!
17
Sandeep Kaushik gets around, doesn't he?
18
Here's the problem with both of these initiatives - they favor the big corporations over small independent businesses. So you'll see all the independent bars you like either charging more compared to chain restaurants, or the independents will make a much lower margin, putting some of them out of business. The volume discount will help Costco, and it will help Red Robin. It won't help any of the independents. Ouch.
19
@18

The Seattle Nightlife & Music Association supports 1100.
20
@18

In this tough economy, we would better off buying low-cost booze at Costco and dining, drinking, listening to music, and socializing at home rather than spending money in bars and clubs. We should apply the savings to reducing our debt; deleveraging, they call it. It's part of what they call "the new normal." :)
21
There is too much Costco and blood in my alcohol stream!

@4,Rogue Ales has a wide variety of craft beer if you are so minded.
22
It's a sad truth: the reason most of these amateur brews need special legal life support is that they taste nasty. If this would let them die a natural death and clear the dead weight off the store shelves and bar menus, all the better.

They do have a year or two before the law takes effect to work on not sucking so badly. Maybe they'll come up with something good.
23
@19 - but many independent bars, clubs, music festivals, craft brewers, wineries, etc, do not support either initiative. There is much debate about what the results of it will be, but I think you'll see small bars and clubs hurt bad by both initiatives. And while I support drinking, initiative I-1100 goes way further than any other state. It basically opens distribution up completely with no regulations. Total wild west, may the biggest corporation win. Now instead of the State controlling prices and what types of liquor is sold in the Washington, literally Costco will.

I personally don't think the State should be in the liquor business. But I also think we need a rational, fair, well thought out way forward, not one driven completely by a couple of large retailers like I-1100, or driven by a couple of large distributors like I-1105. Both are the wrong way out of the current mess and will make liquor distribution in Washington even worse than it is now.

The bummer of course is that the politicians in this state have failed to do their jobs and reform the WSLCB, and the many completely stupid laws we have on the books regarding liquor sales. This mess, in the end, is the result of a complete lack of leadership in the State House and Senate. I hope someone there steps up to take this issue on whether or not these initiatives pass.

Please wait...

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