Shurtleff Goes After Alcoholic Malt drinkAG Targets Alcoholic Malt Drinks

By Lisa Riley Roche Deseret Morning News

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told state liquor regulators that the law needs to be changed so flavored malt beverages can no longer be sold alongside beer in grocery and convenience stores.

But no position was taken by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission on the attorney general’s proposal or other potential legislation the commission is considering for the 2008 Legislature.

Commission Chairman Sam Granato said commissioners will continue discussing the proposals at upcoming meetings before making any decisions about what recommendations to make to lawmakers.

The hearing on Thursday wasn’t the first time the commission has heard from Shurtleff about the need for stronger control over the sale of what he describes as “alco-pops,” beverages made to look and taste like soda pop.

“What we’re talking about here is fraud,” the attorney general said of the malt-based beverages, created by taking much of the alcohol out of beer and substituting alcohol-based flavorings.

Currently, beverages such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade are treated like beer by the state. That means as long as the brewed beverages contain less than 3.2 percent alcohol, they can be sold outside state liquor stores and are taxed at a lower rate.

The change proposed by the attorney general would eliminate the sale of the beverages at beer taverns and restaurants with licenses, limiting them to the sale of wine and beer.

Representatives of the industry as well as both grocery and convenience stores spoke out against reclassifying the beverages as hard liquor, arguing instead for more communitywide efforts aimed at curbing underage drinking.

Greg Altschuh, a Connecticut attorney representing the five companies that produce some two-thirds of the flavored malt beverages sold in the United States, compared the flavorings used to vanilla extract used in cooking, which also contains alcohol.

The products were created “for people who for whatever reason don’t want to taste beer,” Altschuh said, but want a low-alcohol beverage that’s “flavorful, ready-to-drink and refreshing.” They are marketed to adults, he said.

George Van Komen, a doctor and the chairman of the Alcohol Policy Coalition, told the commission that underage drinking would decrease if the beverages weren’t so readily available. “‘Alco-pops’ are nothing more than alcohol on training wheels,” Van Komen said.

California is in the process of reclassifying the beverages, the commission was told. But considering them hard liquor rather than beer only has tax consequences in California, where wine and liquor can be sold in supermarkets just as beer is in Utah.

Commissioner Bobbie Coray questioned whether it is even legal for Utah to be selling the beverages outside of state liquor stores because of the liquor content in the flavorings used to create them.

But others suggested the law never anticipated the sale of flavored malt beverages. Commissioner Kathryn Balmforth said she believes the change could be made through a new rule interpreting the current law rather than going to the Legislature.

While most of the public hearing Thursday focused on the flavored malt beverage issue, commissioners are considering other changes to the state’s liquor laws, including increasing the number of restaurant licenses available.

The former executive director of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Ken Wynn, told commissioners they should push to do away with any limits on the number of restaurant licenses available. Currently, the commission is limited by population figures.

Wynn, who retired earlier this summer after nearly 30 years with the department, praised the commission for holding the hearing.

“The more you allow public input on issues affecting the public, especially when it comes to liquor, the more open it’s going to be,” he said. “And the more apt you’re going to be able to lose the Taliban label.”

E-mail: lisa@desnews.com

(c) 2007 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.