Tastings begin at ABC stores
Yesterday was the first day tastings were allowed at Virginia ABC stores under a new law that authorizes vendors to hand out samples of their products. The bill was passed by the General Assembly during the 2010 legislative session and Gov. Bob McDonnell signed the legislation into law.
According to ABC spokesman Philip Bogenberger:
“Customers can only sample the product(s) being offered for tastings at each event and the vendors choose the product(s) they wish to showcase. Up to three products can be offered by vendors and the tastings can last no longer than two hours.
The rules are similar to tastings that are currently permitted at restaurants such as a maximum limit of three ½ oz. samples per person of legal age for spirits or a total of 5 oz. of wine.”
The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will be posting scheduled tastings on its website here. It doesn’t look as if any local ABC stores have scheduled a tasting yet, but it will be interesting to see how they go when they do.
Anybody got a strong opinion on this, either way?
July 2, 2010 - 7:00 AM
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Yum.
On a more serious note, there are plenty of new and different liqueurs and things at the ABC store that might be great – but I hesitate to plonk down $20+ for something I’ve never tried and might not like. I think if they’d do tastings for things people don’t generally buy, it would help sales.
Cheers!
Sounds like a good idea to me. Do they offer food, crackers or something like that with the tastings?
I agree with Kristen…Not all of the liquors are available to try in the “airplane” bottle size. I would love to see tastings at the ABC store.
According to Chris Goodman, Special Agent in Charge of the Roanoke Region for the Virginia ABC, vendors will be required to provide some kind of nibbles, such as crackers and cheese, at these demonstrations. He also said he thinks they’re going to keep that list updated with the tasting locations, so if you are interested, keep checking the link in the body of my blog post above.