Final Utah DABS meeting of 2022 proves an intriguing one

Mar Muntanya interior bar counter

Well that was a head scratcher. Maybe someone was passing around the egg nog, but the final DABS meetup of 2022 left this curious onlooker a smidge confused. Lets start with the main item therein… Bar licenses After some jiggery pokery with the population numbers I believe an extra bar license was conjured up from … Read more

Utah restaurants on notice as liquor licenses dry up

Beehive Distillery - bar area

November’s DABS meeting wrapped up this Tuesday morning, and confirmed what was writ large last month; full service restaurant liquor licenses are about to splutter out of existence in Utah. The seven restaurants that applied for this license type (allowing liquor, beer and wine with the ordering of food) were all duly approved, but future … Read more

Utah’s full service restaurant licenses could run dry soon

Homecoming Southern Kitchen and Bar

If you’ve been following along with morbid curiosity this year, you’re no doubt aware of the storied drought of bar licenses in Utah. Want to open a bar in the Beehive? You better have a cash runway like Elon coupled with the patience of Job (the biblical one, not the Appley one). What many haven’t … Read more

Zero bars granted license at Utah’s September DABS meeting

Counter and bar sapce at Current Fish and Oyster

After last month’s DABS meeting you might recall I posed this not entirely rhetorical conundrum. When tasked with managing Utah’s most precious of resources – that’s bar licenses not water duh – how exactly should a kingmaker act? This month saw one possible course of action come to pass, which is to say, inaction. Demurring … Read more

Utah liquor licensing starting to turn the screw on local businesses

Generic bar setup

If recent DABS meetings weren’t worrying enough for would be bar owners, the August meeting writ large the reality of a distressing future. Entering the eighth edition of this year’s disbelief fest, fourteen Utah bars turned up hoping for the best. Five business were ready to roll, three bar licenses up for grabs. But wait, … Read more

No new bars granted license – plus mini bottles return

A cocktail bar in downtown Salt Lake City

The headline news – at least according to out of state onlookers and column inches – is the return of mini bottles in the Beehive. Last seen on shelves here in the 1980s, a vote at the July DABS meetup saw their re-instatement approved. Ho hum huh. Miniature liquor bottles of 50ml and wine of … Read more

Liquor license frenzy approaches – mark your calendars

Beer (freepik)

As the clock ticks down to the June DABC meeting (sorry it’s DABS now folks) so the interest escalates around who exactly will snaffle up all those delicious bar licenses set to unfurl. Just like an exotic flora that blooms once every 17 years, this is a practically unheard of event, something to witness and … Read more

Utah bar licenses exhausted until the Summer after DABC meeting

Beer (freepik)

Well there you have it. Two months into the year and bar licenses are pretty much toast. Want to open a bar in Utah? Come back in May, because that’s when a single license will be up for grabs next. And after that, who knows… With various news outlets reporting on a state legislature unconvinced … Read more

Fifteen bars, one license, welcome to Utah

It sounds like the premise of a bad joke: fifteen bars walk into a… but no, this was the reality of January’s DABC meeting. One singular bar license, fifteen business jostling for position and five ready to go today. Welcome to Utah. To remind you then, the state currently has a complete dearth of available … Read more

Utah liquor license crisis set to worsen according to reports

Punch Bowl Social - beer and biscuits, no more

Get ready for a fraught 2022 folks. Following this months DABC meeting, Ben Winslow confirmed via this story that the Utah legislature seems unmoved by the perilous state of Utah’s liquor license inventory. Indeed, things might actually get worse yet still – if that’s even possible. As part of the FOX13 story, Winslow highlighted the … Read more

Restaurant liquor licenses starting to feel the pressure

Crack Shack sandwiches (Crack Shack)

Welcome back to our monthly roundup of all things perfectly potable. While ordinarily I’d start with a raised eyebrow and nod to the state’s bar license crunch (there are presently ZERO available) there’s truthfully not much to talk about. So instead lets start with another looming area of concern… Full service restaurant licenses (beer, wine, … Read more

Lack of bar licenses continues to dominate DABC meetups

Level Crossing Brewing Company - Utah Uncommon beer

As is increasingly common at DABC meetings, wrangles over Utah’s exceptionally limited inventory of bar licenses dominated proceedings during the August meetup. For those following along with this years main liquor story, a solitary bar license was punted over from July’s meeting; and on the docket for the August event – eleven different businesses hoping … Read more

The latest liquor news you don’t want to miss

Eight Settlers - bar and dining room (Eight Settlers)

In his first meeting taking the reigns from former chairman John T. Nielsen, commissioner Thomas Jacobson ran a briskly paced meeting that sped through the docket at an enjoyable pace. A few notable items that came up: The list of businesses requiring extended closures has slowly been whittled down to just a small handful. Publik … Read more

June liquor news, DABC winners and losers

A jumbo sized June DABC meeting topped the three hour mark with plenty of noteworthy action. During the first in person meetup in over a year, chairman John T. Nielsen (Feb 2013) and commissioner Bateman (dec 2014) said their farewells, stepping down from their roles after significant stints; the duo signing onto the roles in … Read more

Bountiful bar loses license after 18 years, other liquor news

Generic beer photo

An eighteen-year paperwork snafu led to the loss of Bountiful’s only bar at a busy DABC meeting this month. The bar in question, The Fifth, underwent a change in business name way back in 2001. Changing from the Fifth Inc to the Fifth LLC; the change went unnoticed for close to two decades. Sadly the … Read more