Posted on 06/28/2016 8:48:00 PM PDT by Fractal Trader
The Pump Bar has been infusing vodka with bacon, garlic, and jalepenos to serve in their brunch bloody marys.
Local news reported:
Back in February, the ABLE Commission was called out to investigate a noise complaint. While it didn’t find any noise problems, there was something else suspicious.
“They found bottles of alcohol were being emptied, contents put in the liquor and put back into the bottle,” said M.Sgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department.
The police report shows a list of things – garlic, pickles, beef and even bacon, being infused into vodka.
“Obviously this is a violation of law,” he said. “You cannot pour alcohol out and pour anything back into the bottle then serve it.”
Initially, the bar and on-duty manager Colin Grizzle, were warned. But, Knight says the VICE unit was called back in April and again found infused liquors.
“You simply cannot do that,” he said. “Regardless of what you’re putting in it, even if it’s just water.”
Grizzle was hauled off to jail. The Pump’s owner, Ian McDermid, tells FOX 25 his employee spent three days behind bars.
“There was no second thought to go to bat for our man after he was arrested on the job for criminal charges,” McDermid told us over email. “We believe there was no violation.”
Yet another tangle to the state’s case is the various other establishments known for selling infused drinks that have yet to be cited or charged for doing so.
KGOU reported:
During June’s ABLE Commission meeting, director Keith Burt said he hadn’t received a notice from the Oklahoma City Police Department about the arrest. John Maisch, a former ABLE attorney, presented the declaration to commissioners, who seemed supportive of the infusion process. But they decided to hold off on answering questions, Denwalt writes:
“If the restaurants are doing something unlawful, then they need to be notified that it’s unlawful,” Maisch said. “There are dozens of restaurants throughout the state of Oklahoma that are infusing drinks, so if it’s illegal then someone has neglected to tell them.”
The ABLE Commission could present its ruling at the next meeting on July 15.
McDermid says he’s losing thousands of dollars in bloody mary sales to customers brunching at other locals who’ve not been dinged for serving infused drinks.
Just wow
You are right.
Back when I bartended we were warned about that kind of thing-—decanting, remixing and so on.
We might have six open bottles of Jack Daniels behind the bar, each with a half-inch remaining, but we could not legally pour them into a single bottle.
Of course we did so anyway, with the tacit approval of management, but only when no one was looking.
In those days the fix was always in, and we would be warned when the liquor control officer was scheduled to make his biannual visit. He was a big old heavy-set florid-faced fellow, and he would wander around the joint for a half-hour or so.
Then he would sit down with the manager for a huge (free) repast, including a bottomless glass of his beverage of choice.
After a couple hours we would help him outside to his cab, and proudly hang our new liquor inspection certificate on the wall.
Another example of the law being an ass. If the customers are fine with it, it’s not an issue for the state.
The purpose of the law was to prevent bars from watering down alcohol, or substituting cheaper liquor than what is marked on the label.
This is just typical police state crap that you expect from the kind of folk who work for state alcohol agencies.
Yup. Worship of the law is every bit as bad as the opposite.
” But once you pour the vodka out, you cannot put it back into the bottle.”
You can but it’s messy. Bottles need wider necks.
That sounds like one heck of a Bloody Mary.
Those are Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) rules in most states to prevent mislabeled products from being served. A bar scotch in the Dewars bottle, for instance. The violation probably was putting the infused item back in the original bottle.
I know I feel safer now
Yes, we had to do that back in the 60s when I first worked at a bar. We paid high school kids as a cleanup crew and smashing liquor bottles into the dumpster was one of their favorite tasks.
I thought it was genies that you can't put back into bottles.
My concern is pragmatic: does the grease come off the bacon and into the vodka?
If so, gross.
so what if you just add the stuff into the bottle and don’t pour it out?
If you then chill the vodka, you could get rid of any bacon fat I would think. And that would be the most interesting piece of bacon you’d ever eat.
My understanding is that - in Houston- every bottle has an id, and tax is paid after the bottle is emptied, not before. I suspect there is a similar issue here.
The clinton mafia can get millions in dirty money from abroad, and this poor working stiff gets arrested? Goodness what has this world come to?
Son of a *****!! Now I REALLY want a few bloody mary’s.
of all the important terrifying things happening and this is what our “justice” system is fiddling with....
If so, gross.
One of the methods for infusing bacon flavor is to pour warm bacon drippings into a bowl with the vodka (or bourbon, etc.) and stir. The grease floats to the top, so you can chill the bowl and lift off the fat before pouring into a storage bottle. Not the best method (I tried it); the prominent flavor wasn't bacon-y. More like the fat from a pork roast. I ended up using that bottle to soak the barbeque charcoal before lighting - waste not, want not.
The correct way is to fry up a pound of bacon, drain it, then soak it in the spirit for a week or two. That method pulls out the smoked, salty meat flavor and minimizes the greasy taste.
I know that this is an old post. But what I find strange is this simple fact. ABLE is a complete scam. There are no classes, like there are in Texas. You give them $35 and they give you a piece of paper. I tended bar in OKC for three years and never knew the laws. Why? Entrapment, that is why. You cannot hold anyone responsible for laws that they are simply not aware of.
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