An exceptionally brisk August DABS meeting wrapped at the practically unheard time of 10.40 a.m. this week; in no small part due to the streamlined way meetings are now handled. Much of the agenda is discussed, approved, and rubber stamped before the big day itself. This typically leaves contentious scarce licenses the only real items to discuss in situ. What could previously be multiple hour slogs are now practically blink and miss it affairs.
This month’s meeting started with the welcoming of new commissioner Steve Handy, former state rep, businessman and Layton resident. Handy replaces Stan Parrish who stepped down at July’s meeting, where Tara Thue also took over as chair.
As well as new liquor licenses being doled out (scroll down for all the info on who), the meeting confirmed the next “rare high demand product drawing” (RHDPR) will open to the public on September 12th, closing on September 22nd. You might want to triple circle that on your calendar. This is as close as to playing the Powerball in Utah as you you can get.
Under the RHDPR scheme, a lottery is ran to decide who can purchase Utah’s allocation of certain rare products. These are then sold with Utah’s regular markup applied, not what a free market would dictate. This means you can potentially snag a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23 year for under three hundred bucks; a product that routinely sells for 10X or higher out of state. This then, one of the upsides of living in a control state.
The following products will be available for a lucky few, the price listed is what you’l pay if your number comes up – signup and enter here.
| Item | DABS Code | # of bottles | Price |
| SAZERAC RYE 18YR 750ml | 027096 | 12 | $99.99 |
| PAPPY VAN WINKLE BOURBON 20YR 750ml | 021016 | 7 | $279.99 |
| PAPPY VAN WINKLE BOURBON 23YR 750ml | 021030 | 5 | $399.99 |
| PAPPY VAN WINKLE BOURBON 15YR 750ml | 020150 | 14 | $169.99 |
| OLD VAN WINKLE FR RYE 13YR 750ml | 027106 | 7 | $169.99 |
| GEORGE T STAGG 750ml | 018416 | 55 | $99.99 |
| PAPPY VAN WINKLE BOURBON 10YR 750ml | 020146 | 77 | $99.99 |
| THOMAS HANDY RYE 750ml | 027036 | 62 | $99.99 |
| PAPPY VAN WINKLE BOURBON 12YR 750ml | 021906 | 53 | $109.99 |
| WILLIAM LARUE WELLER BOURBON 750ml | 022086 | 26 | $100.27 |
| EAGLE RARE BOURBON 17YR 750ml | 017756 | 7 | $99.99 |
Bar licenses
Eleven bar licenses were available in Utah come this months meeting, with two businesses ready to open their doors. These two were duly minted with a precious full bar license:
- The Palace, Salt Lake City
- Bout Time Pub & Grub, Tooele
Waiting in the wings for the months ahead, seven bars are on the wait list:
- El Moab Hotel, Moab, September
- Aker Restaurant and Lounge, Salt Lake City, October
- Neptune’s Palace, Salt Lake City, October
- Marquis, Park City, October
- Etta Place Cidery, November
- Thieves Guild, Salt Lake City, January 2024
- Repeal, Salt Lake City, January 2024
Full service restaurant licenses (beer, wine, liquor)
July’s meeting wrapped with 25 remaining licenses in the state inventory, thirty were available to hand out by this month’s meetup. In the end, three new full service restaurant licenses were handed out as follows:
- Hyatt House – H Bar, Salt Lake City
- Publik Kitchen, Salt Lake City
- Mint Tapas and Sushi 4, Salt Lake City
Holiday Inn (South Jordan), Stage Coach Grille (La Verkin), Andy’s Club (Ogden) were all approved for a change of license ownership. Coming down the line, the following businesses should be up next:
- Matteo, Salt Lake City, September
- El Cholo, Salt Lake City, September
- STK Steakhouse, Salt Lake City, October
- Scelto, Salt Lake City, October
- WildFin American Grill, Farmington, October
- Root’d Cafe, Riverton, October
- Piko Mexican Grill, Salt Lake City, November
- Tip Top Club, Salt Lake City January 2024
Limited service restaurant license (beer, wine)
- Asian Star, Salt Lake City
Taste of India (Layton) was additionally approved for a change of license ownership.
Restaurant beer only license
- El Tigre Mexican Food, Kamas City
Featured image credit, Midjourney.
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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
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When are they voting to possibly allow the sale of wine in grocery stores? Is it also for spirits too or just wine ?
Hi Andrea, I think the citizen led initiative you’re talking about is this one:
https://www.kuer.org/politics-government/2023-08-24/utah-is-an-alcohol-control-state-a-new-citizen-initiative-wants-to-change-that
The proposals seek to:
“Do away with the majority of state-owned and operated liquor stores
Allow privatized liquor and wine stores in Utah
Authorize the sale of anything above 5% ABV (liquor, wine and high-point beer) in some grocery stores, like Costco and Trader Joe’s
Decrease state retail markup of 88% over cost to 30% flat tax on alcohol over 5% ABV to create a wholesale price for retailers
Allow wine to be shipped to consumers directly”