WDYT: Babies Not Allowed in Liquor Stores

[lovemonkey]

That's a stupid rule. I don't understand the point.

My office has a big party at a local bar with some serious drinking after our major deadline . One of my bosses decided to bring his 2 y/o and got pissed when the bar wouldn't let them in. Who brings a small child to a bar?!?

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 19:34:06 GMT -5 lovemonkey said:

That's a stupid rule. I don't understand the point.

My office has a big party at a local bar with some serious drinking after our major deadline . One of my bosses decided to bring his 2 y/o and got pissed when the bar wouldn't let them in. Who brings a small child to a bar?!?

Bringing your kid to a bar and bringing them to the liquor store are not same same.

Signed, the woman who had mothers day brunch with her two small children at an Irish pub.

[Glitter Tits]

I just emailed the president of the liquor store company with my concerns and I asked him what the reasoning for the policy was. I'm sure that he will think that I am a nutbag.

[redheadbaker]

May 17, 2012 18:01:16 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

That's dumb. How are you going to run errands if you can't bring your tiny human?

This! BabyL has been to the liquor store twice already.

[housegeek]

Our Walmart back home (CA) sells liquer and beer and wine in Walmart, so I don't understand their logic for not allowing kids in a liquer store.

[redheadbaker]

May 17, 2012 19:34:06 GMT -5 lovemonkey said:

Who brings a small child to a bar?!?

I brought BabyL to a bar. Well, a German beer garden, actually.

I volunteer for an animal shelter and every few months, they have a volunteer get-together to encourage friendliness among volunteers (things can get clique-y) and boost morale. They had one at this new beer garden, and BabyL was about three months old, so we brought him along. It was actually really family-friendly, with board games and foosball tables.

[dearprudence]

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 20:19:18 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

May 17, 2012 19:34:06 GMT -5 lovemonkey said:

Who brings a small child to a bar?!?

I brought BabyL to a bar. Well, a German beer garden, actually.

I volunteer for an animal shelter and every few months, they have a volunteer get-together to encourage friendliness among volunteers (things can get clique-y) and boost morale. They had one at this new beer garden, and BabyL was about three months old, so we brought him along. It was actually really family-friendly, with board games and foosball tables.

I consider wine bar, biergarten, and Irish Pub in a totally category of their own. Not the same as bringing your kid to a bar.

[cam]

That is a crazy rule. Babies can go anywhere here (liquor stores, bars, whatever). We can also buy any type of alcohol at the grocery store and you can buy a lot of stuff at gas stations (but they have a more limited selection due to store size), and we can buy it any day of the week. I really don't understand the point of restrictions. I know people who come here to buy Everclear because it is too high of an alcohol content that their home state doesn't allow it to be sold; no one in their right mind drinks that crap straight, so I don't know why it even matters how strong it is. Wow, I went off on a tangent! (At least I answered the question first so you didn't need to keep reading.)

[Glitter Tits]

My dad drinks Hot Damn and Everclear together.

[quickfrost]

You know, I was JUST thinking about that the other day! I wanted to stop at the liquor store on my way home and thought I couldn't because I didn't know if L was allowed in there. My DH works 70 hours a week, so it's always just me and L. If I want to get anything, I usually have to take her in with me.

[cam]

May 17, 2012 20:47:51 GMT -5 Glitter Tits said:

My dad drinks Hot Damn and Everclear together.

When my little sister first started drinking, her and her equally uneducated-about-alcohol friends were trying all sorts of different things. They did shots of Everclear. They also didn't know that tequila shots are generally done with chasers (especially for the new-to-drinking people), so they did those straight too.
Everclear is great for making apple pie shots (although my friends and I just pour a bunch in a glass and drink up - or from the bottle because we are that awesome).

[GailGoldie]

May 17, 2012 18:01:16 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

That's dumb. How are you going to run errands if you can't bring your tiny human?

That being said, in New Jersey liquor stores have bars in them. It's weird. So maybe if you live in Jersey I can understand the rule.

Huh? Where? Not near me in NJ. They are just stores.

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 20:58:42 GMT -5 GailGoldie said:

May 17, 2012 18:01:16 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

That's dumb. How are you going to run errands if you can't bring your tiny human?

That being said, in New Jersey liquor stores have bars in them. It's weird. So maybe if you live in Jersey I can understand the rule.

Huh? Where? Not near me in NJ. They are just stores.

I swear they have them in Union County. They're weird.

[EllieArroway]

I wish we could buy alcohol in grocery stores here.

Thankfully most of the liquor stores have drive-thrus, so I guess it's not too bad.

[Deleted]

Drive Thru liquor stores are god's gift to drinkers. FACT.

[winebaby]

May 17, 2012 19:31:57 GMT -5 Glitter Tits said:

May 17, 2012 19:28:54 GMT -5 @mrsgoodkat said:

That's so bizarre. What is the reasoning? We can only buy wine and liquor at the liquor stores (beer is sold at the grocery store but that's it). If I couldn't bring my child in, I'd probably never get to buy wine.

I don't know what their reasoning was. I'm actually tempted to contact the company. They have a monopoly here in town (there are 8 Big Red liquors and I live in a town of only ~70,000 people). It just concerns me after reading about hyperthermia. I don't want people leaving their children in the car for some stupid store policy.

It's probably because Big Red is crazy! What do you need, like 8 forms of ID to enter? Are you sure it's even a store policy? The idiot working there was probably thinking that she shouldn't be able to enter since she doesn't have proper ID.

One of the things I love about WI is that it is acceptable to drink pretty much anywhere, anytime. Everyone takes the baby to the bar.

[quickfrost]

May 17, 2012 21:01:15 GMT -5 @amishlovah said:

Drive Thru liquor stores are god's gift to drinkers. FACT.

Whaaa? Drive thru liquor store?? Man, I really need to move from this semi small town.

[lovemonkey]

May 17, 2012 20:37:45 GMT -5 @amishlovah said:

May 17, 2012 20:19:18 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

I brought BabyL to a bar. Well, a German beer garden, actually.

I volunteer for an animal shelter and every few months, they have a volunteer get-together to encourage friendliness among volunteers (things can get clique-y) and boost morale. They had one at this new beer garden, and BabyL was about three months old, so we brought him along. It was actually really family-friendly, with board games and foosball tables.

I consider wine bar, biergarten, and Irish Pub in a totally category of their own. Not the same as bringing your kid to a bar.

Agreed.

To clarify - This was a sleazy bar where there's about two years worth of spilled beer on the floor and the last place you would want to take a small child who touches everything. Almost on the level with a college bar.

[redheadbaker]

May 17, 2012 20:43:08 GMT -5 cam said:

We can also buy any type of alcohol at the grocery store and you can buy a lot of stuff at gas stations (but they have a more limited selection due to store size), and we can buy it any day of the week.

I want to live where you live. PA's liquor laws SUCK!

[curmudgeon]

I try not to on a regular basis (I pick up my booze at lunch) but, sure, sometimes. WTF would it matter? Kid isn't buying it, the adult is.

[curmudgeon]

Our drive-thru sucks though, or else I would go there more often.

[Deleted]

Liquor will be available in grocery stores here on June 1st. I used to go in the liquor store all the time when I was a toddler according to my grandma.

[Deleted]

Babies aren't allowed in bars here at all. We go to a local pub before soccer matches and they have a very small family section but most of it is a bar. I love people who look at me weird for taking him in there.

[Deleted]

May 18, 2012 0:40:23 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

WTF?

1) Am I not supposed to bring the baby to Trader Joes?

2) Or, when I'm there, am I not supposed to leave her on the outside of the saloon doors so I can go into the "wine tasting" section? (They won't let me wheel her cart in, but I can hand her the cheese and crackers over the mini doors or mini wall.)

3) I'm guessing some of you would not approve of my favorite way to get her to sleep when she was a newborn. Load her into the carseat, drive to Sonoma or Napa, then place carseat with sleeping baby on the tasting room bar counter.

Babies in bars. It's not just for red necks in movies.

Wine tasting or wine bar is totally acceptable.

[terpsfan]

My 4 year old's favorite errand to run is the beer store with daddy. She loves going into the big cooler and he lets her pick out a 6 pack for us (usually it's the one with the mermaid on it). The store clerks fawn all over her and she usually gets M&Ms out of the deal. Win, win.

I so wish we could buy beer and wine in the grocery stores. We just got approved to get wine shipped to this state (which was an enormous PITA when we went to Napa and wanted to ship wine home--we couldn't directly from the wineries, we had to go to a UPS store type place)...get with the times MD!

[mars37810]

We have taken Darcy into a few different liquor stores and nobody has ever said anything. The guys that own the one near our house recognize her and talk to her. We went up there a few weeks ago and I held her since DH could carry everything and they asked me if I wanted any of the tequila they were having a tasting of.

[cantalopes]

There are a lot of liquor stores attached to bars here. I can always remember going with my Dad to get stuff. I would think if it's like a high school kid and they are pointing to stuff with the person buying, yeah kick them out, but a baby or even little kid? Dumb.

[Deleted]

Confession: When we take my older daughter to the liquor store, I tell her we are shopping for grown-up juice.

[datsyuksmommy]

The 24 hour grocery store that carries everything also has liquor, so we buy there, and if we park the cart in the middle of the huge aisle, the kid can't reach the bottles to make a mess. This is one of the few good things about Michigan.