California Agents Crack Down on "Infused" Booze

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The California Alcoholic Beverage Control agency is cracking down on bars and restaurants that make their own "infused" drinks, such as limoncellos.

Alcoholic Beverage Control's "agents have been in San Francisco recently sniffing out these grievous lawbreakers," reports Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle's Between Meals blog.  The crackdown targets businesses "that 'adulterate' spirits by making limoncello and infusing spirits with herbs or fruit," Bauer says.

This is one of those stories that makes me briefly wonder whether I'm reading something from the Onion. But it's all too real, as confirmed by Kevin Westlye of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. He told me he has no idea what sparked this crackdown, but he knows of a few establishments where agents showed up to force bartenders to pour their infused concoctions down the drain.

Beverage Control issued a warning in May 2008 that is apparently the basis for the recent enforcement actions, which Westlye says started a few weeks ago. He adds that, as far as he knows, the regulations were designed to prevent bartenders from doing anything to increase the alcohol content of distilled spirits, but now the agency seems to have "broadened its interpretation of the policy" to include banning doing anything at all to change the character of the booze.

I have calls in to Alcoholic Beverage Control, the California Restaurant Association, and others, and will report back later.