When shopping for personal care products like antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer, many customers look for brands that don’t contain skin-drying alcohol. So what happens when you pick up an item that’s clearly marked “alcohol-free,” but upon closer inspection, the ingredients list includes at least one “alcohol” component? [More]
alcohol
Wisconsin Jury Rejects Man’s Beer-Battered Fish Excuse In Drunk Driving Case
By 2.10.16
You might recall the story of a driver who told police that the reason he failed a field sobriety test was because he’d been eating some beer-battered fish before getting in the car, and not because he’d been drinking booze. His case recently made it to a Wisconsin courtroom, where a jury decided his excuse was too fishy to be true. [More]
8 States With The Strangest Alcohol Laws
By 1.27.16
What’s the first thing you do to prepare for a trip to another state? After finalizing your packing list, looking up the law of the land should be on your list — especially if you’re planning on drinking any beer, wine, or liquor while you’re there. [More]
CVS Will Limit Teens To Buying One Shot Of Boozy Laxative At A Time
By 11.10.15
We recently told you about the “Homeopathic Constipation Relief” on sale at CVS and how it’s really nothing more than a 40-proof shot of booze and water that anyone can purchase without ID. While the drugstore chain is continuing to sell the product — which, again, contains nothing but alcohol and water — it is telling employees to set a one-drink maximum on underage customers. [More]
Teen Shoppers Can Get Drunk Without ID On CVS Homeopathic Laxative
By 10.28.15
CVS might have stopped selling cigarettes, but you can still buy booze at the drugstore chain — without even getting carded. Just head over to the homeopathic medicine section and pick up some store-brand “constipation relief,” which just happens to be 40-proof. [More]
Walmart In Courtroom Battle With Texas Over “Irrational” Liquor Law
By 9.18.15
Having spent a large part of my life in a state where getting wine or booze meant going to a state-operated “wine and spirits shoppe,” it doesn’t seem all that awful that Walmart and other publicly trade companies are barred from selling hard liquor in the state of Texas. But for the nation’s biggest retailer, that law makes no sense — and it’s in the middle of a legal battle with the Lone Star state for the right to dispense spirits. [More]
Taco Bell’s New Cantina Restaurants Will Serve Up Booze, Tapas
By 9.15.15
As we reported many months ago, Taco Bell has been prepping a booze-serving location in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. That store opens this week, and the company says it’s just the start of a plan to serve up more adult fare through a new “Cantina” version of the fast food mainstay. [More]
No Buzzkill Here: Legal Marijuana Not Affecting Alcohol Sales (So Far)
By 8.31.15
As the first states moved toward the legalization of marijuana, some in the booze business were concerned that having easier, legal access to pot would somehow encroach on alcohol sales. But in Colorado, where marijuana has been legal since the beginning of 2014, consumers are not giving up their wine and beer in favor of weed. [More]
Chicago Target Could Be Company’s First To Serve Alcohol To Shoppers
By 8.28.15
Who needs to tote around a cup of coffee or soft drink while browsing the aisles of their local big box retailer when they could have a glass of wine in hand instead? While shopping and drinking can certainly be a dangerous combination for some people (not myself, of course), that could be the next step for Target. [More]
SEC Investigating Beverage Giant Diageo Over Allegations It Artificially Boosted Sales Figures
By 7.24.15
When a company says it’s moving a whole lot of products, that could mean that its sales are booming. The thing is, just because a business might be shipping a lot of products, that doesn’t necessarily mean it actually sold as much as it’s sending to distributors. To that end, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating beverage giant Diageo — the company behind brands like Smirnoff, Guinness, Johnnie Walker and more — for allegedly artificially boosting its sales by shipping excess inventory to distributors. [More]
New Law Brings Happy Hour Back To Illinois Bars — In Moderation
By 7.15.15
What time is it in Illinois? It’s Happy Hour: fans of cheap after-work drink deals will surely be rejoicing in Illinois, where the governor just signed a law making happy hour legal again in the state — to a certain point. [More]
Iowa Supreme Court: You Have The Right To Be Drunk On Your Own Front Steps
By 6.12.15
Where do you draw the line between public and private spaces? Is being drunk on your personal front steps less of a public nuisance than if you were drunk on the stoop of an apartment building where you live with others? For the highest court in Iowa, the answer is yes. [More]
New Hampshire Lawmakers Vote To Allow Babies On Beer Bottle Labels
By 6.11.15
Babies could soon be popping up on beer bottle labels in New Hampshire: State legislators voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill allowing the sale of beers like Founders Breakfast Stout, which features a baby eating oatmeal on the label. [More]
Panama City Beach Officials Vote To Ban Boozing On Beaches During Spring Break
By 5.14.15
While there is a distinct pleasure in burying your toes in warm sand while sipping on a cold alcoholic beverage, city officials in Panama City Beach, FL have decided to crack down on the booze-fueled beach shenanigans commonly exhibited by college students on spring break, after a spate of negative publicity this year. To put it plainly: No more drinking on the beach in the month of March. [More]
Study: Alcohol Advertising Grew 400% In 40 Years — But Americans Aren’t Drinking More
By 3.26.15
Since 1971, advertisers have churned out more and more content dedicated to pushing alcohol in its various forms. But just because we might see a galloping horse promoting beer in slow motion or a fun gang carrying a cooler of malt beverages on a beach every time we turn on the TV, computer or sit staring at a subway ad, that doesn’t mean Americans are drinking more booze than we did 40 years ago, according to a new study. [More]
Texas Roadhouse Serves Up Sangria To 2-Year-Old Girl
By 3.23.15
When you order a cranberry juice for your 2-year-old daughter and the server brings her a glass containing a dark red beverage, you probably wouldn’t think to sample the drink to make sure she hadn’t been given a glass full of boozy sangria. [More]
Parent Company Of Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff Will Include Nutritional Info On Beverage Labels
By 3.20.15
We know that the thought at the forefront of your mind while downing a shot of whiskey is “How many calories are in this?” It’ll be a lot easier to figure out now when drinking brands like Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff and Baileys, as parent company Diageo announced today it’ll include nutritional information on its products’ labels. [More]
FDA Warns That Chantix May Decrease Users’ Alcohol Tolerance
By 3.11.15
Smokers using the prescription drug Chantix (varenicline) to help them through the quitting process may want to sip their beers slowly, as this week the FDA approved new warnings that the drug can change the way users react to alcohol. [More]
