When it comes to happy hour laws, it's booze and don'ts

VIRGINIA BEACH

The Edge offers 40 varieties of beer. The owner of the bar in Norfolk would like to tout his half-price special on Aventinus during "happy hour."

The beer is an international favorite, considered one of the world's best. During happy hour, it is reduced - to $6 a bottle.

"I can't market that," Billy Baldwin said.

Baldwin can legally sell his brews at a lower price until 9 p.m., when happy hour ends statewide. He just can't tell anyone about it.

State laws prevent liquor license holders like Baldwin, who also owns The Edge at the Oceanfront, from advertising discount beverages. He's allowed to place signs about specials inside the business, but not where they can be seen from the street.

The so-called happy hour regulations made the books in 1985. They were designed to promote temperance by limiting the ability to sell reduced-price drinks. But the rules are sobering to business owners, who say they're bad for business.

"I can't say, 'Hey, come in and get a dozen wings and a pitcher of beer for a set price,' " Baldwin said. "You can go to Wildwood (N.J.) or Myrtle Beach (S.C.) where they can.

"I should be able to promote and market like every other business."

State Alcoholic Beverage Control Department officials say the happy hour regulations, like others the agency enforces, discourage overconsumption and bridle bad behavior, such as drunken driving.

Curtis Coleburn, ABC's chief operating officer, said that spreading the news on selling beverages at lower than the customary prices entices customers to drink more.

"It remains in society's interest to curb the abuse of alcohol, and ABC is the primary state agency assigned to the task," Coleburn said.

In March, a federal magistrate judge in Richmond overturned the state's edict prohibiting alcohol ads in college newspapers and references to words such as happy hour.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia argued on behalf of the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech that the bans on advertisements in print and online media violated the newspapers' constitutional right to freedom of speech, costing thousands in revenue.

ABC officials could not convince the judge that the rules met the agency's interest of promoting temperance.

Coleburn said provisions in the law allow the department to continue to enforce the happy hour regulations on licensed businesses.

Violations of the prohibition on advertising happy hours are not as frequent as other offenses, such as selling to underage buyers, according to data obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.

In one recent case, a police officer found a flier promoting happy hour with an open bar at Luxury Brown Sports Bar on Baker Road in Virginia Beach. An undercover ABC agent was allowed in free, although she did not have an invitation. The bar could have avoided any trouble had it been a private party.

The agent received two free mixed drinks. Another no-no. The sports bar and dance club agreed to pay $5,500 in fines.

An infraction could bring $500 to as much as $7,000 in fines. Violators can also face a suspension of their license; only two businesses statewide received written warnings during the last fiscal year.

Tony Schmidt, who runs several Zero's Subs locations and Parlay's, said he should be able to advertise to compete against the "next guy," but it is not worth the potential of losing his license.

"The way I look at it, the more money we bring in is the more sales tax we bring in," he said. "We are out there making a living, and I think they treat us like criminals."

Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com