News Agencies Cannot Clearly Cover Whether New York Bans Bottomless Brunches

The New York Post reports:

A little-known New York State law prohibits “selling, serving, delivering or offering to patrons an unlimited number of drinks during any set period of time for a fixed price” according to the State Liquor Authority’s website.

The Post goes on to conclude that restaurants cannot give patrons unlimited alcoholic beverages. For example, "bottomless brunches," where restaurants offer unlimited mimosas for a certain fee with brunch food, are prohibited. Or so the Post claims:

Latin hot spot Calle Ocho on the Upper West Side offers a $15 special that keeps customers swimming in unlimited sangria as long as they have a plate of food sitting in front of them, which is illegal under the SLA law.

Town Hall laments that this is "big government at work." The New Republic tells us that this will prevent people from eating and drinking more than they should. Jezebel warns that serious enforcement is on the way and that "s**t's about to get real."

But wait! Before accepting these conclusions, it might be good to look at the law itself. Here is the relevant provision: N.Y. ABC. LAW § 117-a:

Mixing Beer with Caffeine is Illegal in California

An exciting discovery, yes, but first some background:

I recently learned that a lovely Los Angeles bar, Hangover, closed recently.  Hangover was a bar in Koreatown with an "All You Can Drink" (AYCD) policy.  For a fee, patrons could enjoy all the beer they wanted for up to four hours.  Hangover noted that California law prevented them from giving away free alcohol, and therefore the bar charged one penny for each pitcher.  You can learn more about Hangover here and here.

I don't know why Hangover closed, but when I saw their note about California law and their strategy of "selling" pitchers for one penny each, I became suspicious.  I therefore decided to launch into an investigation of California's wine, beer, and spirits law so that I could determine the legality of Hangover's practices.

Upon discovering the complexity of California's alcohol laws, I realized that this would not be a project I could finish in a single evening.  As I continue my journey through these intricate statutes, I will share the interesting things I discover.

Which brings me to tonight's discovery: California Business and Professions Code section 25622(a) which reads:

• Beer to which caffeine has been directly added as a separate ingredient shall not be imported into this state, produced, manufactured, or distributed within this state, or sold by a licensed retailer within this state.

I did a bit more research into the law and found Suni Li Alexander's article discussing the underlying legislation.  As I suspected, the law was enacted in 2011 to combat the Four Loko epidemic.  After some widely publicized incidents involving Four Loko, a caffeinated malt beverage, various states enacted legislation in an effort to restrict or outlaw the drink.  Section 25622 appears to be California's solution.

I discuss the statute's peculiarities after the jump.