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Costco has a lawsuit in progress that revolves around the artificially high prices of wine in the state of Washington. There are a bunch of laws in the books that severely restrict how beer and wine sales happen in the state and Costco is attempting to undo those, and they've had some success. The end result may be cheaper wines from, unfortunately, fewer wineries. Seattlest buys a few bottles of wine a week, but we can't really see the outcome of Costco's lawsuits affecting us all that much. Maybe we're wrong.
What we're really looking forward to, though, is the time when Costco goes after liquor sales. It's never mentioned in Nanny State articles, but Washington has some of the most motherly hard A sales restrictions we've ever heard of. When we moved out here from Illinois a bunch of years back we couldn't believe that you couldn't roll a 50 gallon drum of grade A isopropyl home from Bartells for around $10. No, you had to go to some weird little stores like we were back in communist Russia or something and then you had to chose from their tiny and overpriced selection. The bars didn't serve alcohol when we showed up here either, and that's obviously changed. Tonight we'll be toasting Costco on their endeaver to bring our to-go liquor sales out of the 1920's.
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Oh cut the McCarthyism crap. Democrats =! Commies. It is not the 1950.
It is called progressive taxation and it is one of the founding political philosophy of our country.
We have a thriving wine and beer industry here in Washington and the tax rates are not really affecting the amount of cheap booze.
where, exactly, did I say anything about Demorcrats? And that's not a progressive tax, by the way, it's a sin tax and I'm fine with it and I'm sure I wouldn't want to lose the programs it funds. But the stupid stores are so lame and everyone just acts like that's the normal way of things.
I had the opposite experience...imagine a poor, naive Seth visiting another state for the first time, and finding that liquor is freely available at...SAFEWAY! What sort of sybarites live here? he wondered. Californian ones, as it turns out.
We could still have the taxes AND sell the liquor in stores. We tax the shit out of cigarettes (thanks Nazis!) but you don't go to a special store to buy those.
Perhaps with some loosening liquor laws, we can see the Rum Giggle make its way back onto the menu at Trader Vic's. It's true, there is only so much hooch that can be served in one sitting, and the meant-to-share Rum Giggle tips the scale out of favor. I missed living near a TV, and with the RG out of contention, it makes for a bittersweet reunion.
btw - how f*d up is that Lincoln Square? Besides being a feng shui nightmare, that building has some seriously bad juju, and I'm not just talking about the elevator death. Whoever planned that building has obviously never been inside anything ever in the history of insides.
"like we were back in communist Russia"
At least the coffee tax idea went down in flames.
The mini mart at Bangor sub base as California style booze on the shelves. It is quite a sight. I need to make one of these for my next Minibar.
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/03/tv_wet_bar.html
There is a Trader Vics in Bellevue. http://www.tradervicsbellevue.com/
Jake, the Mini-Mart at sub-base Bangor is run by the federal government and therefor not subject to the laws of Washington state.
Yeah I know. Also the public 25ft smoking ban is not applicable on washington state military bases.
What I don't get about the liquor stores is this. Say your sitting at the table over your cheerios some morning and it strikes you that you should make a run to the store for a bottle of vodka. That's the whole errand: vodka trip. You probably have a problem. Now say you're in QFC. You got cheerios, lunchmeat, chips and salsa, a veggie plate, hey, how about some vodka? No dice - you have to go to a seperate store for that. The casual drinkers are the ones who are punished by the state store system.
The state government has the power to regulate certain grey market things that generate them a lot of tax revenue bling. Technically gambling is illegal unless is run by the state in the form of Lotto and you can’t buy hard booze unless you buy it from the state run store. It is sort of like paying tribute to the capo of the black market.
What if pot was legal but sold and regulated and taxed the hell out of by the state and sold from the state in state run stores like booze in Washington? That is the ultimate irony. The government says that a person is responsible enough to buy a gallon of crap vodka but is not responsible to smoke a joint and watch cartoon network.
I am still blown away that in Oregon you have video gambling run by the state all over the place and you can smoke in the bars.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39882521@N00/105144943/
So do you usually commiserate about vodka in the AM? If you do I suggest that the key to a good hair of the dog Bloody Mary is celery salt and a pickled asparagus stalk.