Beer here (in stores)... (buyer, inspection, codes)

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Quietude

The pic is not about the price...

Haha. Missed it. I don’t know what Budweeiser costs either.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Being a total annoying beer snob I have no idea what Budweiser costs.

I agree. Funny story.

When my kids were young, we took a trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. While there, went on a brewery tour. At the end, in the tasting room, I tried one of the Buds, looked at my wife and said, "it's just as bad fresh as it is in the can."

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by Thoreau424

Can't get wine in CO grocery stores either, which is backwards and retarded. It's stupid to have to make a separate trip elsewhere. In other states, I got it all together at the same time.

Got so used to seeing wine in Albertson's when I lived in NM, I was quite surprised to see it not sold in supermarkets here.

In any event, as has been noted, there are liquor stores adjacent to many supermarkets here.

Some other locations I didn't see mentioned: Costco in Parker on Cottonwood Dr. and Super Target off of Alameda and Colorado Blvd.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Being a total annoying beer snob I have no idea what Budweiser costs.

IIRC it's about $7.99 for a six pack of 12 oz bottles.

I'm from Baltimore; my favorite beer: Other Peoples....

[Left-handed]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

There's no reason to keep COLO's archaic alcohol laws which do little more than protect a lot of mom and pop stores who charge higher prices. Why protect these mom and pop's when no one defended all the mom and pop stores that got rolled up by all sorts of big box stores and/or big chains (hardware, books, office supplies, jewelry, grocery, kitchen, gasoline, clothing, etc).

Bingo! My friend's family owns a few of the more renowned liquor stores in Denver, and her argument was always that grocery stores couldn't properly enforce liquor selling laws as well as liquor stores. It was such a weak argument. We all know that the real reason is to protect the liquor store lobby's sales. Once some of the recent laws passed to enable grocery stores to carry full strength beer and liquor. her mother actually sold one of their stores in the 'burbs.

[Quietude]

Okay, well, back to the OP about "stealth" 3.2 being sold in grocery stores... in comparing two 12-packs of Fat Tire, I noticed that the difference is marked on the box... in the blurry machine-printed serial number string. The 5.2 from a liquor store just has the boring codes smeared across the box, while the box from KS includes a smeary ...3.2%BEER... in there.

And, of course, all craft/quality beer buyers carefully examine these routing codes to see if the six or box or case came from the hands of master brewer Angus McSwiney and not that pretender on the night shift...

Other than this effectively invisible marking (I honestly never noticed them until now; they're not for the mortal eyes of consumers) the only way to know what's in the boooooxxxx is to open it and look for the missing mark and the stealth 3.2 in the fine print. Some part of me still thinks this is unreasonable and even deceptive on the part of the brewers. But now, like the three million ahead of me, I know. After six months.

[Left-handed]

Originally Posted by Quietude

Okay, well, back to the OP about "stealth" 3.2 being sold in grocery stores... in comparing two 12-packs of Fat Tire, I noticed that the difference is marked on the box... in the blurry machine-printed serial number string. The 5.2 from a liquor store just has the boring codes smeared across the box, while the box from KS includes a smeary ...3.2%BEER... in there.

And, of course, all craft/quality beer buyers carefully examine these routing codes to see if the six or box or case came from the hands of master brewer Angus McSwiney and not that pretender on the night shift...

Other than this effectively invisible marking (I honestly never noticed them until now; they're not for the mortal eyes of consumers) the only way to know what's in the boooooxxxx is to open it and look for the missing mark and the stealth 3.2 in the fine print. Some part of me still thinks this is unreasonable and even deceptive on the part of the brewers. But now, like the three million ahead of me, I know. After six months.

I've always just assumed that people carrying out a case/pack of beer from the grocery store were tourists or out-of-towners who didn't realize they were buying fraudulent beer.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by Left-handed

I've always just assumed that people carrying out a case/pack of beer from the grocery store were tourists or out-of-towners who didn't realize they were buying fraudulent beer.

Well, until last week, I was one of them. And had every reason not to be.

That it is so obscured, by tacit agreement of all the producing and selling parties, should be illegal.

[Left-handed]

Originally Posted by Quietude

Well, until last week, I was one of them. And had every reason not to be.

That it is so obscured, by tacit agreement of all the producing and selling parties, should be illegal.

Did you not notice that it took more beers to get you feeling inebriated? Or was there some sort of placebo effect in play?

I've not drank 3.2 beer myself. I'm genuinely curious if you can tell the different between, let's say, 3.2 Bud Platinum vs. regular Bud Platinum (6% ABV). I may need to do an experiment.

[davidv]

Here is the history:

Colorado's laws allowing only one liquor license per person/business was written after Prohibition. It was meant to keep the mafia from gaining control of the liquor market. This law changed in 2016, but the changes will be phased in to minimize the impact on liquor store owners.

The 3.2% law was common 30 years ago. It allowed the sale of lower alcohol drinks to those 18-21. It was/is sold in the grocery stores because 18 year olds are allowed in there, but not in regular liquor stores. The 18 year old age limit was scrapped in 1987 when the Federal Government told us to change the drinking age to 21 or lose federal highway funding.

Personally, I like buying liquor in liquor stores better than grocery stores because the people working there are more knowledgeable and helpful about what they sell. I can't imagine asking a Safeway stock boy which wine I should buy with my Salmon.