[OGRipper]

I'm going to Moab in a couple weeks and am concerned about a vacation with only crap beer available (as opposed to my normal daily intake of good beer, wine, tequila, and scotch). I'll have room to bring a couple cases and am curious if anyone has run into random checks or anything like that on the way there from the Bay Area. I would also like to bring some green combustibles.

How bad an idea is this? (And yeah I've already been told by some people that it's a bad idea to go to Moab in early June.)

Obviously if I get stopped for speeding or something it could be a problem, but I am more concerned about random checks...anyone?

 

[SkaredShtles]

Don't worry about it. We always "smuggle" beer to Moab.

Besides - the worst thing that would happen would be the cops confiscate your beer. Lord knows they like good beer.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Just ride your bike through the airport wearing slacks with a white dress shirt, tie & and name badge. They'll let you right through.

 

[LordOpie]

Is bringing alcohol across state lines illegal?

Anyway, if we want to drink, we usually stop in the last big city before Utah and load up.

The restaurants serve good beer. So there's that.

 

[LordOpie]

Is bringing alcohol across state lines illegal?

It must not be cuz we packed two bottles of good wine on our trip from Denver to Florida a couple weeks ago and they didn't say anything when they searched our luggage.

 

[skatetokil]

the booze is fine, no problem at all. the combustibles might be a problem though. In Nevada I think posession is still like a decade in prison, and in Utah I'm pretty sure they just feed you to lions or hold gladiatorial matches between you and other accused drug smugglers.

 

[OGRipper]

O-tay, thanks. Guess I need to edumacate myself a bit more.

 

[Bullitrider]

I believe that's called bootlegging but then again, all my bootlegging knowledge comes from "Smokey and the Bandit".

 

[OGRipper]

Just ride your bike through the airport wearing slacks with a white dress shirt, tie & and name badge. They'll let you right through.

Nice one!! But I'm driving. Maybe I'll pickup a few hitchhikers and say they are all my wives. Actually, wonder if my girl would...maybe...nahhh!

 

[SprungShoulders]

...and in Utah I'm pretty sure they just feed you to lions or hold gladiatorial matches between you and other accused drug smugglers.

Actually, they dip you in the Great Salt Lake in August, and then chain you down on the beach, to be slowly eaten by flies. If your lucky, a seagull will take pity on your sorry ass and eat you before the flies finish...

2nd offense: what's left of you after flies/seagulls is forced to wear a "Baptist and Proud of It" button, stand in Temple Square, and try to convince the Mormons that they're not christians.

3rd offense.... Need I go on? :bomb:

 

[blue]

Why do you need to smuggle? There's a State Liqour store in Moab for all your needs...

 

[dan-o]

I never had problems on either front when I frequented Moab/Utah. If you're not sipping a broadie or blazing a J while driving like an idiot you should be A-OK.

 

[OGRipper]

Well like I said I need to learn more. I keep hearing stories about people bringing their own and the 2.5% crap sold there - so it's only bars and restaurants with the restriction? Is there a decent selection for a beer snob?

 

[narlus]

Why do you need to smuggle? There's a State Liqour store in Moab for all your needs...

yeah, for about $2 per beer for the non 3.2 stuff....no thanks!

that said, they do have some good wine deals in that place...i still have a bottle of Silver Oak cab in my basement from that store.

 

[blue]

Well like I said I need to learn more. I keep hearing stories about people bringing their own and the 2.5% crap sold there - so it's only bars and restaurants with the restriction? Is there a decent selection for a beer snob?

Depends. The percentage sold in grocery/convenience stores is 3.2%. Most restaurants sell at least that, most nicer places have wine and a full bar. Local microbrews (Wasatch, Uintah, etc) are 4 or 5% I believe anywhere you get them. A full on bar sells real stuff, but there's funky club laws involved with them. You have to pay a cover for a one-time membership to gain entrance.

The only place to purchase non-watered down booze off the shelf is the State Liqour store. Here's a confusing list of what they have and price per ounce. The Utah DABC is a bureaucratic monster (for a reason, bastards)...prepare to be overwhelmed.

http://javaweb.abc.state.ut.us/NASApp/pricelist/ControllerServlet?action=showPage&uri=DisplayDivCategory.jsp

 

[DRB]

Its only bootlegging if you cross state lines for the purpose of distribution and/or sale.

 

[rideit]

It is NOT a crime to transport liquor THROUGH utah to another state...so if stopped, you are going to Bullfrog Arizona. also, the beer in the stores can measure all the way up to 4% (weak, I know) but it is measured as original Gravity, and not final alcohol content. Restaurants sometimes serve up to 6%, but that is rare. The best bet is simply to drink canadian whiskey (cheap) and either imported or by the bottle beers (pricey).

 

[bdamschen]

It's got to be legal to do or at least easy to do illegally, otherwise the easter jeep safari wouldn't be able to happen every year.

 

[Wumpus]

Bootlegging is a slang term to describe smuggling. Most commonly, the word refers to the illegal transport and sale of alcoholic beverages on which excise taxes have not been paid. It is said that the term comes from how the alcohol was hid in flasks on the legs of sellers, above or under the boot. The term is sometimes used to refer exclusively to the production of untaxed alcoholic products; however, that is more accurately called "moonshining." Most bootleg liquor is not "home-made" by a moonshiner but, instead, bottled by professional distillers.

During Prohibition of the 1920s in the United States, much of the bootleg whiskey was brought in from Canada (See American Whiskey Trail) and much of the bootleg rum was imported from Mexico or Cuba via "rum roads" or "rum routes." . Today most bootleg alcohol in the United States is made domestically but sold "under the table" or "off the back of a truck" without the necessary permits and taxes.

The illegal sale of many consumer products other than alcohol is often termed Bootlegging as well. Goods such as compact discs, DVDs and other Intellectual Property are considered to be "bootleg" if they are replicated without permission of the copyright holder. Unofficial audio recordings of live performances in particular are often called bootlegs.

 

[knollybikes.com]

Last year we bought a bottle of El Tesoro Anejo at the state liquor store, so you can find decent liquor there. I can't remember what it cost, but it probably was on the more expensive side I'm sure. As others have said, you can buy real beer at the state liquor store as well, but it is about $2/bottle.

6 or 7 years ago, we drove down from Vancouver BC with close to $200 worth of beer in the back out our van, just because we were soooo disapointed the previous year with the lack of beer! Now we just buy it in Idaho or Colorado and everything is good

I've done the drive down from Vancouver to Moab and then on to Fruita and back through Utah to Vancouver at least 6 or 7 times now, and have never heard or seen anything to do with "random checks".

Cheers and remember to just say no to 3.2!