aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Proper White Russians come to SC

Since 1973 South Carolina has been the only state in the nation to require minibottles be used in bars. The idea was to encourage temperance though critics said it resulted in stiffer, more expensive drinks because the 1.7-ounce minibottle packs a bigger punch than the 1.25-ounce shot typically poured in other states.

That will end come midnight:

[A] vote in 2004 and a law passed the next legislative session gives bars and restaurants the same choice every other establishment in the country has - to pour liquor out of big bottles. [...]

Liberty Tap Room in Columbia and a number of other bars also are having to train bartenders who with minibottles, simply had to twist the top and pour. Several are using a contraption that looks live several test tubes to teach bartenders how much an ounce feels like when pouring.

The biggest change from minibottles to free pour may come with mixed drinks. With minibottles, bartenders used nearly twice the alcohol, turning drinks like cosmopolitans into knee-wobblers and making it impossible to make a proper white Russian.