Visitors to Rustico restaurant in Alexandria, VA may think they’re merely enjoying an innocent Beersicle (video)- but state regulators seem to think they are practicing their own vigilante brand of thirst amelioration. The new “frozen beer on a stick” offering apparently violates a state law that requires beer be sold in its original container or served immediately after it is poured.
It would seem to me that the beersicle actually serves as a deterrent to consuming large amounts of beer as fast as possible. This isn’t a good thing? Wouldn’t the cops be a little better served by making sure terrorists aren’t amassing a stockpile of bomb pops?
[Update Jul. 2008: state legislature legalizes the pops.]
7 Comments
Wait a sec. If it’s frozen, is it really beer?
I mean, alcohol has a very low freezing point – much lower than water. I’d wager that these beersicles are largely made up of water. If it had a significant amount of alcohol, it’d be liquid.
So, it’s not really beer – how can they regulate it?
Actually, the way around this (ridiculously enough) is for some kind of beer to be sold “in it’s original container”, which just happens to be popsicle-shaped, with a place to put in a stick (or with a stick already in it, and alrady frozen).
Stupid, but there you have it – there was probably a reason for that law, once upon a time (though I certainly can’t think of one) – yes, there are plenty of stupid laws on the books for no reason (I’m seen a good many), but that one seems like one that had a specific type of incident in mind.
They could saw off the top of the beer bottle or can, make the beersicles separately, and serve them in the containers with the handle sticking out?
In Korea, I continued to take my beer ration all year long. In winter, the alcohol seperated and made a jolting drink. Toss the ice.
there was probably a reason for that law, once upon a time
I assign equal probability to “date rape prevention” and “legislator was served a flat beer and decided to stick it to the bar owner”
In response to E-Bell: I grew up in a state where subzero weather was normal several months a year. We used to go pick up a case of Grain Belt, Hamm’s, or Schmidt’s beer (whatever was cheapest) on a Saturday night and, if the drive back home was any more than 10 minutes or so, we would put the beer on the floor before the front seat, where the heater would keep it in a liquid state. If put in the trunk, the beer would have frozen solid.
Alcohol freezes, although the freezing point is quite a lot lower. However, I’d expect most of the water to freeze first, separating out some higher-proof drink that only froze when it got much colder. E.g. “applejack” is made by letting hard cider freeze lightly and throwing out the ice – this was a method of increasing the alcohol content that was known long before distillation was invented. I’d think the beer-pops have to somehow stop this process…