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SLA Raids Bar for Selling Wisconsin Beer
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 27, 2009
Modified Nov 27, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 27, 2009
Modified Nov 27, 2009
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An Upper East Side sports bar popular with Wisconsin transplants was slapped with two fines totaling $20,000 for selling a popular beer that's only licensed to sell in Wisconsin. The owners of Mad River Bar & Grille were fined by the SLA earlier this month for pouring Spotted Cow, a microbrewed ale that retails in Wisconsin for about $30 a case or $1.25 a bottle.
An SLA spokesman tells the Wisconson State Journal that businesses selling alcohol in New York need to purchase their alcohol through a wholesale distributor. Officials seized 50 cases of the forbidden beer during a raid on November 6th. The SLA was tipped off after a call from an anonymous wet blanket tipster. Spotted Cow, created in 1996, is the most popular beer produced by New Glarus Brewery, which expects to move 50,000 barrels of the brew this year.
Last week New Glarus brewmaster Dan Carey received a call from the SLA asking if they were selling the beer in NYC. It's unclear how Mad River got their hands on the Spotted Cow, but Carey tells the Post, "I feel bad for the Wisconsin ex-pats who can't get a taste of home." He denies selling it across state lines, and tells the Wisconsin State Journal, "As goofy as it sounds, we don't want to be a big brewery. We want to control our growth."
Tagged
mad river
nyc
spotted cow
upper east side
wisconsin beer
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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