BYOB KC

Two months ago, under the cloak of darkness, the KC City Council passed ordinance 11005 to amend Sec. 10-335 to remove subsection (1) of said statute.  So, because of the darkness under which the ordinance was passed activity (1) has been legal for 2 months, but no one knew it. Until, that is, the fabulous Ferruzza uncovered activity (1) and now KC restaurants are a BYOB party.

Ferruzza's article explicitly stated that bringing your own wine to an alcohol licensed restaurants was now allowed (corking fees may apply). What he didn't express was anything about beer or liquor. From my reading of the ordinance, beer and liquor can also be brought to restaurants. All restaurants retain the right to not allow you to bring your own booze and also retain the right to charge you for the privilege.

In grand Kansas City style, the ordinance has caught restaurant owners flatfooted so call ahead and make sure that the restaurant you desire to dine at allows you to bring your own. Based on the comments to Ferruzza's article the ordinance is a bit controversial in the restaurant community so many restaurants may simply refuse to allow you to bring your own bottle(s).

The ordinance leaves in place many of the laws that govern liquor licensees including many that were unknown to me. For instance, if you bring your own bottle of liquor (again, based on my reading, this is now legal) a restaurant cannot sell or give you a mixer (soda water, water, sour mix, etc.) to mix with your liquor and cannot allow you to mix your own drink. So if you're bringing a bottle of liquor, prepare to drink it straight. Employees of a liquor licensee can not solicit drinks in any way from customers, so if you bring an interesting bottle of wine or beer your server can't ask for a drink. Not only that, but even if you offer a drink, they can not take a drink of an alcoholic beverage.

The most disappointing restriction also still resides on the books,

I've always wondered why neither of the Matts at The Flying Saucer will dance with me. I used to take offense, but now I know, they're sticklers for Kansas City's liquor laws.

Now that it's legal, dig out your good bottles of Tank 7, Harvest Dance, Odell Avant Peche, Lagunitas Gnarly Wine, Stone Vertical Epics, etc. and get out and dine KC (unless you're a Johnson Countian because you're not welcome in KC anymore, besides BYOB's been legal in JoCo for a couple of years). We're no longer slaves to substandard beer lists among KC finer restaurants.

Other Popular Posts on KC Beer Blog