JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Changes to state statute will take effect soon, July 1, with few more impactful items than updates to Wyoming’s complicated and often archaic liquor laws. To prepare for new laws and updated interpretations of laws, the town council recently took a harder look at what they had on the books compared to what the state will be allowing in a week.
The biggest change is a bump in Bar & Grill liquor licenses available for the town to dole out at $1,500 each. The Town of Jackson now has three additional such licenses available.
The so-called “Applebee’s” license is basically the same as a restaurant liquor license—both allow the holder to sell alcohol only as an amenity to regular food service—but a bar & grill license allows drinks to be poured in front of customers, often in a bar area. A restaurant liquor license is a bit stricter about the pouring of drinks. Cocktails must be mixed in a dispensing room, out of sight of diners. Theoretically, no drink, including a bottle of wine, may be poured in front of a customer with a restaurant liquor license, though Jackson’s attorney Audrey Cohen Davis said the town has never interpreted the law that way concerning a wine taste.
And the state is still strict about what type of food constitutes a restaurant that would like to make use of a liquor license. In order to ensure establishments aren’t merely looking for the cheapest and easiest way to get their patrons liquored up while lining their pockets, the definitions of acceptable foods is always a fun read. For instance, who still uses the word “victuals?”
Typical fry orders don’t count as real food, according to the Wyoming State Liquor Board. A burger, a sandwich, a salad—that’s not going to fly. Meals cannot be simply reheat and eat. The state wants to see some effort put forth in the kitchen before it will call a restaurant, a restaurant.
Town rules
Town officials are hoping to get ahead of the curve—not only in syncing its municipal code with state regs—but in defining a clear path for hopeful eateries to line up for their right to hawk hooch.
As the state has updated its code, the town is also looking to modify a 25-year-old document. A memo drafted by former town attorney Dave Larson in 1993 has been largely the bible for restaurant liquor license holders in Jackson.
Also, several existing restaurants have expressed a desire to “trade up” from their restaurant liquor licenses, and at least three other yet-to-open restaurants also want in on a Bar & Grill license. The new pizzeria destined for the old Teton Theatre (Hand Fired Pizza), Big Hole BBQ, and Jackson Hole Playhouse have so far all formally expressed interest in a Bar & Grill liquor license.
After deliberating how strict the town should be (“You can be more strict but not more lenient than the state,” town assistant manager Roxanne Robinson assured elected officials) it was agreed the town would basically stick with what Larson had come up with when Naughty By Nature was bumpin’ “Hip Hop Hurray.” The council voted 3-2 to not fix what wasn’t broke as far as municipal code defining restaurants and bars.
Opposition votes were Jim Stanford and Hailey Morton Levinson. Stanford thinks many of the town and state laws need to come into the 21st century. He wouldn’t mind a beer with a sandwich, for instance. Morton Levinson wanted more time to better understand who could sell what booze and why. Some of the laws seemed unduly restrictive to her.
Bob Lenz wanted immediate clarification of what was going on the books and he wanted it before July 1. “If you don’t pass this, people will be in line to abuse it. I can assure you there are people waiting right now to abuse this,” he said.
Cohen Davis agreed, admitting the town planning staff was already having issues with a plethora of coffee shops that have bloomed into full-blown diners.
“It’s been difficult to navigate through. You have to think of every example [scenario] when figuring out the intent of the license and the law,” Cohen Dais said. “And if there is a way around it, people are going to find it.”
The three Bar & Grill liquor licenses are currently being advertised by the town as available.
