Listing alcohol content is just common sense

Source: The Lowell Sun

07/18/2019 

Guessing games can by a fun way to spend an evening with friends, but they shouldn’t be required when you’re out at your favorite restaurant or pub.

But that’s what can occur if you don’t know the alcohol content in that specialty beer you’re drinking.

That’s what state Rep. Colleen Garry wants to correct with legislation that would require restaurants to list the percentage of alcohol in the beers they serve.

Garry, a Dracut Democrat who also represents Tyngsboro, inserted language in her bill that states: “An Act for all licensees for beer to be drunk on the premises must list the alcohol by volume for each beer selection on the menu.”

Garry’s bill hits close to home. It was crafted from the experience of Dracut resident Christine DiLorenzo, which she shared at a Statehouse hearing on Monday.

About a year ago, DiLorenzo said she went to a Dracut restaurant with her husband, where she had two glasses of the same kind of beer from Victory Brewing Company. She said there was no information available on how much alcohol was contained in each glass.

“They really hit me harder than a normal beer would,” said DiLorenzo.

She did a little online research on the way home, and found out why. The beer contained 9 percent alcohol by volume — on the high end of the brew scale. Most beers are 4 to 6 percent alcohol by volume.

As she said, it’s fortunate she wasn’t behind the wheel; in her condition, it could have put her and others in harm’s way.

“As a consumer, you want to make a good decision,” DiLorenzo said. “Knowing no one wants to drink and drive, if you happen to go to a place like we did that doesn’t post this, you don’t have the necessary information to make a good decision.”

Steve Clark, vice president of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said he’s viewed the bill, currently in the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.

While Clark seemed to believe most establishments already supply this information, the newspaper’s admittedly small sampling suggests there are many that don’t.

Lauren Laperriere, bar manager of Beemers Pub & Grill in Fitchburg, told the newspaper that the restaurant doesn’t list the alcohol content on the menu, but didn’t object to the idea. “There are some customers who are more health-conscious who might care.”

The same holds true at The GazBar in Leominster. Bartender Kristen Miner said the restaurant’s bartenders only track alcohol content in the beers they serve, in case customers are curious.

She also thought the bill isn’t a bad idea.

For the protection of all concerned, Garry’s bill sounds like a common-sense solution to a potentially dangerous problem.

Restaurants and bars should want the added protection against damaging lawsuits that such a notice would provide.

And patrons, as Christine DiLorenzo emphasized, could then make informed decisions about what beers – and in what numbers – they choose to drink.

Lawmakers should move this bill along — inserting any clarifying language that might be needed — for the full Legislature to consider.