SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Grocery and convenience stores across Utah said goodbye to 3.2% beer and hello to 5.0% beer as a new law went into effect midnight Friday.
“For the first time ever since 1933, Utah has allowed stronger beer in grocery and convenience stores,” said Terry Wood, Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesperson.
The restocking started well before sunrise in many stores. Grocery stores can continue to sell 3.2% beer if they have leftover stock, but the state had to destroy what it had leftover at the liquor stores, which Wood said was expected to be around 200 to 250 cases.
There was talk of sending the excess to a landfill, but DABC officials decided Friday morning to send it to a recycling company the department uses.
“They dispose of the liquid in an environmentally free manner and then the glass and aluminum is all cut up in small pieces and sent somewhere else,” Wood said.
From all indications, the prices of the beer bottles will remain the same. The only difference – about 0.08% more alcohol.
Wood said the DABC doesn’t see a problem with that.
“The percentage of alcohol that you will find in grocery stores is very, very small,” Wood said. “We don’t expect people to be getting any more buzz out of that beer than probably would otherwise.”
