With just one bar license obtainable and 11 companies wanting it, it was a certain factor that the Utah Division of Alcoholic Beverage Companies’ fee would make anyone sad.
As a substitute, the board opted to make everyone sad, deciding at its September assembly to not challenge that bar license till its subsequent assembly, on Oct. 25.
“We’re in a tricky spot,” fee chair Juliette Tennert mentioned at Tuesday’s assembly. “Now we have one license, and based mostly on inhabitants evaluation, we’ve yet another developing in November. … It’s not a primary for the fee, nevertheless it’s the primary time for these of us who’re newer to be in such a spot of shortage.”
“The reality of the matter is we’ve a really troublesome state of affairs,” mentioned Commissioner Thomas Jacobsen.
Jacobsen put the blame for the license scarcity on the Utah Legislature, and talked about the physique’s main determine on alcohol coverage: Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton.
“I’m going to place my pal, Sen. Stevenson, on the spot and say we’re working with what’s given us. The treatment is to petition the Legislature and ask them to grant extra bar licenses,” Jacobsen mentioned.
Of the 11 companies whose functions went earlier than the fee Tuesday, two of them had been Salt Lake Metropolis taverns searching for to improve to a full bar license: West Facet Tavern at 1763 S. 300 West, and Fisher Brewing at 320 W. 800 South.
Libby Taylor, basic supervisor of West Facet Tavern, advised the board her enterprise — which is tied to the Squatters Brewpub in downtown Salt Lake Metropolis — is shedding prospects as a result of she will’t pour a few of Squatters higher-alcohol beers, reminiscent of its Hop Rising Double IPA, which is 9% alcohol.
Tim Dwyer, co-owner of Fisher Brewing Firm, advised the board that the enterprise has added an occasion area, increasing its capability from 250 folks to 509. The area might be used for weddings, company events and different occasions, Dwyer mentioned — and, he argued, folks will need to pour champagne and spirits.
“Now we have a confirmed monitor file,” Dwyer mentioned. “We’re not only a tavern seeking to pour high-point beer. We’re busy and want the additional area.”
9 extra candidates are planning to open within the coming months, although the house owners of just one — Verse, an LGBTQ+ bar at 605 S. State St., Salt Lake Metropolis — mentioned they had been able to open instantly.
Verse proprietor Michael Repp — the previous co-owner of The Solar Trapp, one among Salt Lake Metropolis’s longest-operating LGBTQ+ bars — mentioned his new enterprise was practically able to open its doorways, as a result of their crews had been in 16-hour days and accomplished months of building in a matter of weeks.
“We’d be able to function by October 7, if not earlier than,” Repp mentioned.
The eight different candidates have proposed opening dates starting from mid-October to subsequent July. They’re: Lit Arcade Bar in Ogden, the social membership Edison Home in downtown Salt Lake Metropolis, Bout Time Pub and Grub in Bluffdale and Saratoga Springs, Correct Brewing in Moab, Marquis in Park Metropolis, and Aker and Yuki, each in Salt Lake Metropolis.