Remember when it was not acceptable to bring a baby to a bar? [View all]

[Baitball Blogger]

Probably the better title is "How they bent the rules to sell beer to families with small children in tow."

One of my favorite lines in Sweet Home Alabama (2002) occurs when the character played by Reese Witherspoon is walking through a crowded bar and bumps into an old time HIgh School friend played by the affable, talented, but unsung Melanie Lynsky. Melanie is holding a baby and Witherspoon's line is, "Look at you. You have a baby, in a bar."

I remembered the line this Thanksgiving when we went to one of those beer specialty pubs that offer their own crafted beers. Not a bar in a classic sense, but there we all were, lining up for crafted beer in a large lighted hall, a la Harry Potter, with all the young families, babies and small siblings. And when I posed with my grandbaby for a photo, the line, "Look at you. You have a baby, in a bar." Every time I remembered the line, I laughed like a crazy person. My son-in-law asked me what I thought was funny and brushed him off and said it was a boomer thing.

But, is it? Wasn't the whole point of keeping underage children out of bars to keep them from being overly influenced by adult drinking habits? If that's the case, is there really any difference between traditional bars and these current micro-breweries that are now an acceptable family destination?