Liquor Cops Bust Bars for Swapping Speed Rack for Top Shelf, Flies

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By Roy Edroso, Monday, Jul. 13 2009 @ 11:26AM

Comments (2)

Categories: Drinking, Legal

It's a serious problem for a bar to be accused of watering the hooch, especially when they charge a lot for it. The State Liquor Authority has in recent years busted a number of local taverns for, among other offenses, serving inferior brands of booze as top-shelf stuff. The New York Post, not distinguishing among offenses, names Balthazar, Ultra Lounge, Discoteque, The Carriage House, Salt Bar, Katie's Joint, Alphabet Lounge, Hop Devil Grill, Crash Mansion, and Marquee, the famous bottle club, which in addition to its class-leading $100,000 fine may expect harsh judgement for the suspicion that it may be cheating on its premium offerings.

We're not sure how the SLA investigators make these calls anyway. Are agents trained to tell Stoli from Georgi? Or do they have some sort of device that detects parts-per-million of class?

Bar owners are naturally displeased with the heavy hand of the law. "We paid $8,000 for a fruit fly," says Crash Mansion's Nancy Brady, who was dunned when one such sweet-liquor-loving insect was perceived in a bottle of Jack.

At least they don't have the headache faced by some folks upstate in Troy who invested heavily in a bar only to be denied a license by the SLA because they're across the street from a Salvation Army outpost, even though there are other bars nearby. Image via The Insider.

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NYS ABC Law Cousulting Group says:

The NYS ABC Law Consulting group battles the liquor authority every day as they help the bar owners across NY State. Check the latest news for more information at www.NYSLiquor.com

Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 14 2009 @ 1:32AM

Betty Pearl says:

With modern printers, & other stuff, fake ID is almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing.

I met a man in the army just back from the war in Iraq who "looked" legal, & had legitimate looking fake ID. We caught on he was under age because one of our servers recognized the guy as being under age.

We will not win the war against under-age drinking as long as all the burden is placed on servers who are expected to be good psychics when determining if someone who appears to have the proper ID is really legal drinking age.

The holders & makers of these fake IDs get a slap on the wrist, & just go to the next bar after a club is shut down.

If the SLA wants to stop under age drinking, there needs to be more severe penalties for the people with the fake ID, rather than cruel & unusual penalties for the clubs who don't have good enough psychics.

Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 15 2009 @ 11:00AM