Michigan: Michigan Liquor Control enacts rule allowing self-serve beer and wine taps
Source: WWMT.com
by Christine VanTimmeren
December 27th 2016
A new rule was approved by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, which allows for self-service taps at individual bar or restaurant tables, but some say this will only intensify issues of underage drinking and over-serving.
The idea that you don’t have to wait for another glass of beer or wine. You could refill your glass right from your table and it could be coming to bars in West Michigan.
Robert O’Meara, a Vice President of the Michigan Restaurant Association, said, “There has been a relatively high level of interest. Again this is a new emerging technology.”
O’Meara said self-serve alcohol technology excites him and it’s another method a restaurant can use to differentiate themselves.
The new rule from the Liquor Control Commission says the self-serve taps can only dispense beer or wine and cannot dispense more than 96 ounces in a single order.
The alcohol must be ordered and turned on by wait staff and everyone’s identification must be checked.
O’Meara said, “We’re happy to see there’s still a human-to-human interaction involved which we feel does a very nice job to protect and preserve current safety.”
However, the safety aspect is what concerns E.J. McAndrew with the Cass Community Coalition.
McAndrew said, “The lack of oversight is by far the biggest concern we have and the concern of over-serving.”
She says self-serve taps are a recipe for underage drinking, and she thinks people will drink more than normal.
She said, “If there’s only one person sitting at a table can they order 96 ounces of alcohol? That’s a lot of alcohol.”
O’Meara said, “It’s the establishments responsibility to determine who’s being served, how much is being served. So I think there are safeguards in there to protect that.”
Restaurants and bars do have the authority enact stricter regulations than the Michigan Liquor Control has issued.
Arcadia Brewing Company owner Tim Surprise said self-service beer is not something he is interested in, because he feels it would negatively impact staff engagement and relationships between bartenders and patrons.