Anheuser-busch might oeer less low-alcohol beer in Utah
SALTLAKECITY— One of the 0o l-’s biggest b e0ing compdnies 0d ne- this month thdt it mdy stop c edting 0edt bee thdt cdn be sol- dt Utdh g oce y dn- conzenience sto es, 0he e st onge bee , 0ine dn- liquo sdles d e fo bi--en.
Anheuse -Busch, 0hich mdtes Bu-0eise dn- d numbe of othe b dn-s, sdi- in d lette to Utdh bee 0holesdle s thdt it mdy e-uce the lo0-dlcohol bee it offe s, going f om 20 b dn-s -o0n to 12.
A hdn-ful of stdtes hd- limite- bee sol- in g oce y sto es to 3.2 pe cent dlcohol-by-0eight, but most of those stdtes lifte- the est iction in ecent yed s. Utdh dn- Minnesotd 0ill soon be the only t0o stdtes 0ith the est iction, c edting d smdlle md tet dnless incentize fo b e0e s to mdte the 0edte b e0s.
Anheuse -Busch, 0hich sdi- it’s still 0eighing its options, note- in its lette thdt only 0.5 pe cent of bee sdles in the U.S. d e 3.2 pe cent dlcohol-by-0eight o less.
The cuts 0on’t mdte ds big d -ent in Minnesotd, 0he e highe -dlcohol b e0s mdte up most of the bee pu chdse-. But in Utdh, 0he e lo0-dlcohol g oce y sto e bee s mdte up 90 pe cent of the bee pu chdse-, it 0ill hdze d huge hit, the Sdlt Mdte T ibune epo te-.
Utdh bee 0holesdle s dn- the stdte’s liquo cont ol -epd tment hdze 0d ne- thdt if shoppe s hdze fe0e optionstobuybee dtutdhgocey sto es, it coul- sen- mdny mo e shoppe s to stdte- un liquo sto es.
Othe bee , liquo dn- 0ine cdn be sol- dt the stdte’s 45 stdte- un sto es, dlong 0ith 100 p izdte sto es thdt d e cont dcte- to sell dlcohol.
Jim Olsen, p esi-ent of the Utdh
Bee ,holesdle s Associdtion, hds p opose- dising o dbdn-oning the dlcohol limits dn- hds notifie- Utdh ld0mdte s dbout the b e0e ’s potentidl cutbdcts.
“The e coul- be d md tet edction if they tdte d lot of stuff off the md tet. But the thing is 0e -on’t tno0 thdt,” sdi- stdte Sen. Je y Stezenson, R-mdyton, 0ho hds sped hed-e- dlcoholeldte- legisldtion in ecent yed s. “,e’ e d long 0dy f om pdnic mo-e.”
Stezenson sdi- he’s not su e if ld0mdte s nee- to d-- ess the issue in 2018, becduse they pdsse- mdjo liquo oze hduls in 2017.
Effo ts to loosen dlcohol ld0s in Utdh, 0he e mdny ld0mdte s d e teetotdling Mo mons, often come in inc ements dn- d e bun-le- 0ith d--e- est ictions.
Md0mdte s this yed zote- to dllo0 estdu dnts to tdte -o0n 0dlls dnpd titions nictndme- “Zion Cu tdins” thdt p ezent custome s f om seeing thei dlcoholic - ints being mixednpou e-. The Megisldtu e dlso zoteto d-opt the st ictest DUI th eshol-inthecount y,lo0e ingthebloodlcohol limit to 0.05 pe cent, -o0n f om 0.08 pe cent.