CA bill puts fruits, veggies back in booze

[The Straight Story]

Mark Leno bill puts fruits, veggies back in booze


Creative barkeeps around the state may soon be breathing a sigh of relief - and breaking out the fruit, vegetables and spices - if lawmakers approve a bill being introduced by a state senator today.

The bill by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would clarify a post-Prohibition section of legal code that state regulators have used to crack down on bars and restaurants that infuse alcohol with different flavors - think fruit-flavored vodka or homemade sangria.

Since 2008, the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has read the decades-old section of code that prohibits "rectification" of distilled spirits to mean that house-infused drinks are illegal under California law.

Leno's bill would explicitly permit businesses to "engage in the artisanal practice of making small amounts of spirits flavored with fruits, vegetables and spices" for use at that establishment, according to a memo from his office.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/05/BAN11GM0MV.DTL#ixzz17NOn1rtR

[MNBrewer]

1. Liquor laws are so F'd up

About time they were rationalized.

[Igel]

2. You mean they couldn't have house-produced Becherovka?

Or zubrowka?

And this is a bad thing?