2002 WINTER OLYMPICS
Drinking game: Getting served By George Diaz | Sentinel Staff WriterSALT LAKE CITY -- Visitors to the Winter Olympics are discovering some sobering news: Utah's liquor laws are so convoluted that in some establishments, a parched patron has to fill out a security form before getting a taste of anything stronger than hot cocoa. Etched in the clean-living doctrine of a region with a strong Mormon influence, Salt Lake City is trying to downplay its teetotaling image and shake perceptions that this is an Olympics with no party favors.
"It's crazy -- their attitude of alcohol," said Kristian Peyrin, who owns a French restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City. "They think all alcoholics started by drinking one beer at first or one glass of wine. That's like saying if you smoke a doobie, you might end up shooting heroin. To drink socially is not being an alcoholic.
"They are doing more harm to themselves by promoting their way of thinking."
Adult liquid beverages have been readily available, but one first must understand a convoluted mix of rules and regulations.Here's a quick primer on the quirks of alcohol consumption:
Full liquor service (including mixed drinks, beer and wine by the glass or bottle) is available in licensed restaurants, airport lounges and private clubs. Fees for the clubs range from $5 for temporary two-week membership to $12 to $100 for an annual membership. One recent trip to a restaurant serving liquor required a two-step security/access check that included filling out a form.
Fortunately, most locals have been kind enough to "sponsor" a stranger who steps into a bar if the timing is right. That lets visitors bypass having to get club memberships. "Just wink at a pretty girl at the bar, and she will sponsor you for free," said Greg Schirf, owner of Wasatch Brewery in Park City.
Liquor, wine and heavy beer (over 3.2 percent alcohol; standard beer is 5 percent) is available in State Liquor Stores and Package Agencies, which are closed on Sundays. Patrons must be dining in the restaurant in order to be served alcohol.
It is illegal to buy a double liquor drink, but you can order a "sidecar" (a one-ounce shot of the same libation). The bartender will place the shot glass beside your drink, although he or she is not allowed to pour it into your glass.
If you can get a drink, you have to get it early. Bars close at 1 a.m.
Olympic guests can drink hot-buttered rum at venues, but Utah's Alcoholic Beverage Control Department has banned the sale of Irish coffee and hot chocolate with schnapps.
Until recently, a waiter was not allowed to offer the wine list to diners because that was thought to encourage drinking, but the waiter could give it to them if the patrons ask for it directly.
The perplexing ins and outs is enough to drive one to . . . well . . . you know.
"You can get a drink here just like anywhere else," said John Saltas, publisher of the Salt Lake City Weekly. "The trouble is, the social element is more difficult here because of the stupid private clubs stigma. They make no sense whatsoever, but bureaucratically and institutionally, they make sense to the people who control Utah, because they have a sense they are controlling the consumption of alcohol. They're really not."
Reflecting the true Olympic spirit of thorough preparation, some of the foreign visitors and local entrepreneurs have taken cautionary notes and extreme measures.
Every member of the Russian delegation brought two jars of caviar and two bottles of vodka. "Everyone knows Utah is a Mormon state where alcohol is tough to get," Viktor Mamatov, Russia's Olympic Chief de Mission, said recently.
Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovakia and Switzerland, among other countries, have imported their own beer, wine and liquor (packing a stronger alcoholic kick).
Dead Goat Saloon owner Daniel Darger has recruited five other bar owners to lock arms in the war on "liquor-law lunacy" by setting up a Web site. They offer a $15 single membership card that allows customers access into the six bars during the Winter Games.
"It's like the Boston Tea Party," Darger said recently.
The Olympics, perhaps more than any other major sporting event, has a long history of celebratory toasts as the world comes together to party and play for two weeks. There remains the not-so-stereotypical image of foreign correspondents and domestic scribes who enjoy the company of Mr. Johnny Walker or Mr. Chivas after filing their last dispatch of the day's events.
Salt Lake officials, fearful of media backlash on this issue since the Games were awarded to Utah in 1995, have continued a public-relations blitz to show the world that they, too, love the nightlife and got to boogie.
Mayor Rocky Anderson took visiting Olympic journalists on a "pub crawl" in October, finishing their excursion at 3 a.m. "I'm still recovering," Anderson said. Several years earlier, another group of Olympic journalists in town had beers placed on their beds as part of a welcoming basket of goodies.
"The whole perception about our alcohol laws is grossly exaggerated," Anderson said, "but it's understandable, given the very few odd aspects of our liquor laws." >[? Despite lobbying from Anderson (a liberal Democrat and non-Mormon) and other officials to loosen the leash on alcohol during the Games, Utah's Beverage Control officials remain unwavering. Compliance officers are patrolling Salt Lake bars looking for infractions.
Beverage control officials have issued a special 72-hour permit for selling drinks in hospitality areas or restaurants that have been leased to various international groups.
Under that revolving three-day window, Peyrin has turned over his restaurant to the Switzerland Olympic Organization during the 17-day run. His liquor license will not be affected, because "it's too dangerous," pointing to the legal issues of an under-age Olympian who might take a sip of champagne or wine.
"If you can go fight for your country and get killed, you should be able to drink a glass of wine or beer before you get killed," said Peyrin, originally from France. "As far as American athletes are concerned, I can't really judge because it's the law of the land, but as far as European athletes, those are definitely not our laws.
"If you are the best at what you do, not being able to pop open a bottle of champagne is ridiculous. It doesn't make a guy a drunk or anything. It's a customary thing in the world, but apparently Utah is not aware of this. They live on another planet."
The line between church and state in Utah remains a contentious issue in a state of 2.1 million where 70 percent of the population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).
"We're not opposed to responsible consumption of alcohol by informed adults," church spokesman Michael Purdy said. "The church is concerned about availability to minors and health and social consequences of alcohol consumption."
The teetotaling stigma allows for those with a more liberal slant to tweak the church and its infamous history. In November, Schirf came up with a provocative name for one of the beers offered at his brew pub.
"Polygamy Porter," said the voiceover in the radio ad, asking, "Why have just one?"
A billboard with a scantily clad man surrounded by women alongside the message "Take One Home For the Wives" was banned by the beverage control department, a group of five Mormon commissioners.
The controversy has made Polygamy Porter and its accompanying souvenir merchandise (T-shirts and such) popular throughout the world..
"I kind of owe 'em a thank you, don't I?" said Schirf, who maintains that the drinking restrictions are "more popular myth than substance. If people go home without a hangover, certainly it will be of their own choosing."
Frustrated souls who still can't drown their sorrows with a hot toddy during the Olympics might consider an alternative form of feel-good therapy: Go to a gift shop and look for a novelty shot glass.
One favorite: "Eat, Drink and Be Merry . . . For Tomorrow You May Be In Utah."
George Diaz can be reached at gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com.
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