Tag: Georgia

A quick guide to open container regulations in Brunswick, Georgia

~ Robbie ~ Leave a comment

This post has a very limited scope of interest, so apologies if you’re not in Brunswick (but maybe you should be? It’s a great place to live!).

In Georgia, most cities don’t allow people to walk around with open containers of alcoholic beverages. There are exceptions, however. Brunswick, Georgia has an exception area defined in law that covers the Newcastle Street area of the historic business district. It doesn’t cover the entire historic district though, and this fact comes as a surprise to some people.

I’ve created a map here that shows the area exempt from open container laws. Anything in the green highlighted area is exempt, and you can (as long as you follow the conditions listed below) walk around with a cocktail or beer. Please note that I am not a lawyer and this is not intended to be legal advice. The text of the actual regulation is linked above, so please consult it to confirm the finer details.

The conditions:

  • Open drinks have to be in a plastic cup no larger than 16oz. Cans, glass bottles, or anything other than a plastic cup won’t work.
  • You can only take two alcoholic drinks out of an establishment and you have to buy them one at a time. I assume this is to allow someone to hold a drink for someone else as you walk out of a bar.
  • The hours of the exemption zone are from 12:30pm – 12:30am.
  • The sidewalk on the east side of Bay St is included. I drew the border a little too far west, but if you’re walking down the middle of Bay Street with a cocktail you’ve got other problems. I believe the intention is to keep open containers out of Mary Ross Park unless there’s an event there with an exemption.

“But what about Porchfest? People drink all over Old Town!” you might ask. Outdoor drinking in other parts of the city at Porchfest and similar events is covered under special event permits that the event organizer is responsible for getting. I’m not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, but I’ll say that if you’re walking outside of the zone with an adult beverage and you’re not drunk or loud or doing anything that would draw attention to yourself you’ll probably be fine.

Update: Glynn County is considering adding a Special Event Entertainment District at Pier Village on St Simons Island nearby. The proposal would allow for open containers for certain special events, so this would not be the same as the Brunswick zone.

Anecdotes on Atlanta’s alcoholic beverage laws

~ Robbie ~ Leave a comment

Donald B. Humphrey managed several nightclubs and bars in Atlanta in the late 1960s and 1970s. I’m flipping through his self-published 2021 memoir “A Life of Blessings And Then Some”. As with most self published memoirs, this one could have used an editor, but there are some interesting bits in the latter third of the book that cover the Atlanta drinking scene at the time. Humphrey died in early 2022, so there’s not an opportunity to ask for clarification on the details that aren’t so clear in the text.

Don got his start in Atlanta’s bar and nightlife scene running a topless bar behind the Loew’s Grand theater after retiring from law enforcement. He and his wife both managed operations there until the owner began taking money from their paychecks to fund his lifestyle, and they opened their first bar, Bottoms Up in the Georgian Terrace Hotel across the street from the Fox Theater. It was another go-go lounge, showing that Atlanta’s reputation for these sorts of bars isn’t a new thing (he also took over Kitten’s Korner at Peachtree and 6th, and you won’t be shocked to hear it was intended as competition for Atlanta’s new Playboy Club).

I’m including these details here just to share a glimpse into how far things have come in Atlanta and Georgia. I may write a larger, better researched piece later because this is all very interesting history to me.

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Old Fourth Distillery selling equipment

~ Robbie ~ 1 Comment

Back in September I wrote a bit about Atlanta’s Old Fourth Distillery hitting the market. I was afraid that this news might mean that the distillery would close (and my Spidey-senses started tingling when they posted that the distillery would be closed for a few days after the sale notice went online), but they’re still open and released a new finished bourbon last month.

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A hot take on the Old Fourth Distillery sale

~ Robbie ~ 7 Comments

This morning I saw that Atlanta’s Old Fourth Distillery has hired a consultant to try and broker a sale. It’s sad to see but not terribly surprising. This is actually the second Georgia distillery to go on the market this month – Savannah’s Ghost Coast distillery is also up for sale through the same consultant. You can read (and see) more about what I saw at O4D this summer if you’re not familiar with them.

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A taste of Lee & White in Atlanta’s West End

~ Robbie ~ 1 Comment

Atlanta’s Beltline project has driven some new developments in Atlanta, and the Lee & White warehouse redevelopment project near Adair Park is an example of the kind of thing that Beltline supporters hoped to see. This isn’t a real estate or urban planning blog, so rather than digging into those aspects of the development, I’m going to talk about some of the distilleries and breweries you might find there. Hop City calls Lee & White “Malt Disney”, and with three breweries, a bottle shop, a distillery, a kombucha brewery, and many restaurants and bars on site (along with open containers allowed on the property), it’s understandable.

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Visiting Atlanta’s Old Fourth Distillery

~ Robbie ~ 3 Comments

The first stop on my distillery tour (here’s a full list of all the stops) was Old Fourth Distillery in Atlanta. Opened in 2014, they’re the first legal distillery to open in Atlanta in the post-Prohibition era. They’re in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood, hence the name. Interestingly, they helped fund it in 2013 with a Kickstarter campaign, though with a low goal of $40,000 I think the crowdfunding campaign was probably more about marketing and outreach than raising funds, and I’ll have to remember that if I’m ever in the position of opening my own distillery.

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