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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Drunk $$s & Sense: OLCC Ponders Looser Happy Hour Laws

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 2:17 PM

The mighty Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) just can't keep up with Facebook. The state's 49 liquor inspectors had a hard enough time keep track of whether Oregon's roughly 10,000 booze vendors were sticking to the archaic state happy hour advertising rules when it was just sandwich boards and posters they had to keep an eye on. Now, with more Oregon restaurants and bars advertising their specials on Twitter, Facebook and national websites it's impossible for the inspectors to keep pace. Today the OLCC took the first step toward rewriting the 80s-era advertising restriction to finally bring the laws into sync with modern times.

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OLCC spokeswoman Christie Scott spells out the current happy hour advertising rules. "Right now, you cannot advertise outside your establishment for any temporary reduction in alcohol price, no matter what you call it. It could be the 'OLCC Social Hour' and still not be allowed," says Scott, who says enforcing the rule has been more difficult recently because of the internet and because many more restaurants are starting happy hours to keep bringing in recession-era customers. "A lot more places are doing happy hours these days. It's a tough time for restaurants and they're doing whatever they can to get by."

Right now, if a bar hangs so much as a "$4 Jagerbomb Brunch" sign outside their window, they could be hit with a three day liquor license suspension or fined $495. Under the draft of the new rules, establishments of intoxication could advertise happy hours... as long as there no are specific "dollars and cents" prices attached. So "$4 Jagerbomb Brunch" would still be a punishable advertisement, but "Cheap Jagerbomb Brunch" or "Very Special Jagerbomb Brunch" would be a-okay.

Under both the current and revised rules, bars can advertise happy hour food specials all they want. That, of course, explains how three friends and I wound up with a $55 tab at Hungry Tiger Too's $1 vegan corndog night (true story).

Personally, I think the revision is still overly cumbersome and unenforceable—the inspectors are still going to have to troll through bars' Myspace pages to see if there's any reprehensible dollar signs. Like the old law, this one would either bog down the inspectors or become a very sporadically-enforced law entirely. The public process for changing the laws is a long one, though, and the revision could look much different once it comes out of the public hearing grinder sometime in 2010.

 

Comments (10) RSS

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1
Um, what about Barfly's drink special listings? Or the Mercury's little Cocktail Compass iphone app?

(Or are these excluded because they use language such as "$1.75 off" rather than listing the actual price, like "$2 rails"?)
Posted by Chunty McHutchence on October 15, 2009 at 2:27 PM · Report
2
I also wonder what counts as "advertising" and what counts as "reviewing." I mean, if I were to post happy hour info on my blog, they could hardly fine the bar, could they?
Posted by atomic on October 15, 2009 at 2:36 PM · Report
3
@Cunty MC &atomic: The Merc and Barfly can get away with it all they want because the OLCC has no real jurisdiction over non Liquor License holders

@smirk: What the hell are "establishments of intoxication"? Are you talking about businesses that they themselves are drunk?

@everyone else: This is a wonderful beginning in a shift of OLCC policy. Social order requires a certain amount of rules. Old OLCC policy was too restrictive; hopefully the OLCC will stop hating fun and just be boring ol' fuddy-duddies in the future instead of yelling about their lawn and those damn kids.
Posted by Graham on October 15, 2009 at 2:44 PM · Report
4
social order? hilarious. the OLCC is a bureaucratic relic that should have been disbanded decades ago.

I'll vote for any politician who supports the dismantling of this cumbersome dinosaur of an organization and give regulation of liquor back to our elected state and local officials, where it belongs.
Posted by Chunty McHutchence on October 15, 2009 at 3:01 PM · Report
5
I guess I just don't consider it advertising if the bar in question isn't paying for it or doing it themselves. The OLCC can regulate business practices if they want (although it seems dumb to me in this situation) but I don't see how they can pretend to regulate information.

Plus the bar can just say "Mojitos for no particular amount of money! Oh, and here's a link to the barfly page which says what particular amount of money"
Posted by atomic on October 15, 2009 at 3:05 PM · Report
6
@Chunty - One of our ad guys explains:

People cannot pay to have their happy hours listed, but we often list them as a free service. The businesses whose happy hours are on Cocktail Compass and in the Eat and Drink guide did not pay to have their happy hours included, so it's legal.
Posted by s.mirk on October 15, 2009 at 3:27 PM · Report
7
I once tended bar at a place that had a sandwich board outside listing "Daily Specials" in reference to food. But since it didn't say "Daily FOOD Specials," I was hassled by an OLCC enforcement officer and was told to bring in the sign or else face a fine.

Now that's some Bullshit!
Posted by Patrick A. Coleman on October 15, 2009 at 3:36 PM · Report
8
Anyone who participates in a Jagerbomb Brunch of any sort should probably seek counseling.

Wait...I'm going on vacation...nevermind. I take it all back.
Posted by BlackedOut on October 15, 2009 at 5:27 PM · Report
9
What do we need an OLCC for anyway? Their purpose seems to make life inconvenient for bar operators and patrons by issuing ridiculous and frivolous rules. Aren't they the ones who tell us that in a stripper bar an 18 year old girl can display her junk 2 feet from my face but she can't drink a beer in the same establishment? They treat us like children. It's time to give them the boot.
Posted by Amanda Bandana on October 15, 2009 at 11:48 PM · Report
10
The OLCC's days are numbered. Yes, why indeed do we need to be spending tax dollars on this agency that really accomplishes nothing at all. Especially when state taxes are strapped. THEY DO NOTHING. And there shit is super archaic and pointless. It is a joke
Posted by jfk on October 16, 2009 at 3:35 AM · Report

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