What’s shakin, cocktail fans?
Welcome to Episode 166 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!
Thanks for joining us for another interview episode, where we seek out the best and brightest minds in the spirits and cocktail world so that we can share their secrets with you. This time around, we have the distinct pleasure of chatting with alcohol policy expert and recently published author Jarrett Dieterle, whose book – Give Me Liberty and Give me a Drink – is a groundbreaking summary of the crazy alcohol laws that govern every nook and cranny of the American landscape. Whether we’re talking about the surprising cities that allow drinking in public (shout out to Erie, PA and Butte, MT), or the states where you have to mix your cocktails behind a screen (lookin’ at you, Utah…), this book is a super accessible resource text for contemporary legislation, as well as a treasure trove of cocktail wisdom.
In this wide-ranging and incredibly revelatory interview with Jarrett Dieterle, booze policy wonk and author of Give Me Liberty and Give me a Drink, some of the topics we discuss include:
How Jarrett fused his career in alcohol policy with his passion for great drinks to generate a text that questions the inconsistencies of our fragmented nation’s alcohol purchasing and consumption policies.
Why we think it’s important to frame most of these legislative questions in terms of a “freedom vs. security” stance, otherwise figured as a “conservation vs. risk” query. Jarrett does a great job of re-framing this nuanced stance of mine by demonstrating how most of our nation’s alcohol regulations do a poor job of optimizing for both freedom AND security.
Now, don’t get us wrong – both Jarrett and the Modern Bar Cart team are very outspoken advocates for responsible and healthy consumption by way of reasonable regulations…but as we’ll demonstrate there are a ton of regulations in our nation that don’t even come close to being reasonable…and we show you some of the craziest ones that you might not even believe if you don’t live in the jurisdictions where they’re in place.
We also talk about Blue Laws, alcohol control states, and the bizarre battles that poor lawmaking can create between industries that would otherwise coexist peacefully – such as bars and restaurants and the alcohol producers who support them.
But, we’re not just here to complain. Jarrett and The Modern Bar Cart really dig into some of these laws, identify some of the faulty reasoning behind them, and really lay bare some of the iniquities behind them that we, as US citizens, have the capacity to change.
Finally, we conclude this episode by considering the contemporary legislative changes that have been rapidly changing in the wake of the COVID-19 Coronavirus and what these might mean for the future of Alcohol legislation in the United States.
This was a tough set of bullet points to craft, mostly because Jarrett leads us through a mushy maze of really partisan and super nuanced issues that you really can’t take a firm stand on without crushing some of that crucial nuance.
Let me make this clear: We like booze, on its own and in cocktail form. We ultimately skew more toward freedom in the spirits space than we do security, so please know that when you listen to this episode. That being said, we want to emphasize our podcast catch-phrase here so that we’re not at risk of sounding like anti-regulation booze-mongers – and that catch-phrase is: “Drink Responsibly, Experiment Boldy.”
But, before we get too deep into the seriously backward rules that prohibit gas stations in Indiana from refrigerating their beer, let’s take a little breather so that you can make yourself a drink.
This episode’s featured cocktail is the Southern 75, which you’ll recognize from the ingredients list as a cheeky riff on the French 75.
To make it, you’ll need:
1.5 oz Bourbon
¾ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Simple Syrup
6 oz of a good India Pale Ale
And several dashes of orange bitters (we, of course, recommend our Embitterment Orange Bitters)
Combine all ingredients except the beer in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously for about 15 seconds, then strain into a highball glass over ice, top with your favorite IPA, give it a gentle stir for incorporation purposes, and garnish with a freshly expressed lemon twist.
Any classic cocktail nerd will be familiar with the French 75 – that classic developed at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. But you know what? This is a very American podcast episode, so let me read you the blurb paired with this recipe in Jarrett’s book.
The tradition of getting absolutely hammered is as old as civilization itself. Commercial breweries date back to ancient Mesopotamia, proving that alcohol is essential to human achievement. But where there’s good beer, there are always crappy beer laws. The Code of Hammurabi limited how much beer citizens could receive each day, and to this day, our right to crack open a cold one is subject to various restrictions. Until recently, Nebraska required brewers to physically hand off their beer to a distributor for a certain amount of time–known as an “at rest” law–and then essentially buy it back in order to sell it at their own taprooms. The law was mercifully reformed, but Nebraska still remains one of several states that completely prohibits breweries from directly sending their own beer to outside retail locations, even if they’re right down the street.
So, now that you’ve got yourself a cheeky classic cocktail riff and a small sample of the silly laws that inspired it, let’s turn our attention back to the interview.
Jarrett Dieterle is a resident senior fellow studying alcohol policy at the R Street Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. His book, Give me Liberty and Give me a Drink, was published on September 15, 2020. It details the ironic, comical, and often extraneous booze-related laws enforced in the United States. Dieterle humorously assigns an inspired cocktail to each regulation, bringing an air of comedy to his writing as well as a clever way to expose the idiocies of these policies. His goal, as he states, is to give people bite-sized access to a wealth of information on the topic of alcohol policy which they may have previously taken for granted. He emphasizes that these idiosyncrasies are not bound to one state; they expand over the entirety of our country, rooted in Colonial times.
The one thing Dieterle hopes a reader will take away from Give me Liberty and Give me a Drink is that they begin to question their surroundings. Give me Liberty and Give me a Drink takes something which functions in the background of awareness and systematizes it, transforming it into a cohesive existence which prompts the question of why? Why do these laws exist? Why do we need them?
The age-old dichotomy between freedom and security is often brought up in the argument of alcohol regulation. The negative externalities are obvious. Jarrett is not trying to deny that drunk driving, alcohol abuse, and illicit alcohol are issues that need government supervision. However, it becomes nonsensical when we focus on Prohibition-era laws which have prevailed past the 21st century. For example, the Massachusetts “Blue Laws,” which prevent the purchase of alcohol on Sundays and require businesses to pay compensation if they wish to continue sales. There is no discernable pattern in their data that the Blue Laws have impacted drunk driving, and yet the regulations stay in place.
The Indiana Warm Beer Laws: grocery stores/gas stations are only allowed to sell beer if it is at room temperature. However, the liquor store can sell it cold creating a monopoly within the beer industry.
Utah’s Zion Curtain: There must be a partition barrier in-between the bartender and the individuals buying alcohol, leading us to the question: what convincing argument keeps this law instated?
Washington State: distilleries can only serve up to two ounces of their spirits per day. This limits their ability to create a good impression on their customers and prosper through word of mouth.
Virginia: Distillers can only sell in Virginia ABC stores. If the ABC accepts none of the distiller’s products they are locked out of the marketplace.
Do you have questions for Jarrett Dieterle? Contact him here.
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I love all the classics, but my favorite is one I included in my book: the Caipirinha, a Brazilian drink made with Cachaça. I combine it with ginger liquor and a ginger beer to make it a brighter, more refreshing drink.
I would probably pick bitters. I find them fascinating; they can change the complexity of a drink so quickly and dramatically with such little amount of liquid. They also have their roots very far back in history to the pre-Prohibition era and I love historical stuff.
It would be very neat to be in the room when Churchill, FDR, and Stalin were originally meeting in World War II. They had a famous dinner party that involved many bloody marys and scotch, and it helped them forge an alliance.
I am not a dirty martini guy. I don’t like olive juice.
Recently, I’ve been interested in resuscitating the image of the alcohol space because I think it’s very special and often overlooked. Breweries are a great local hub which bring people together, and the industry as a whole has created an incredible amount of blue-collar manufacturing jobs.
This episode was produced by Edie Frederick, with editing and sound design by Samantha Reid, alcohol legislation insights by Jarrett Dieterle, and a little bit of interview magic by yours truly. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2020.
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