Famed NYC 'Bottomless Brunches' Declared Illegal, Sunday Funday Doomed
To those who live outside New York: please continue to fantasize about our city on Sundays as a poached egg haven where you're entitled to as many watered-down vodka or champagne cocktails as you can drive into you. To those within the state limits: bad news.
According to the press release from the NYC Hospitality Alliance, the New York State Liquor Authority's ABC Law, "prohibits licensees from creating drink specials which, in the judgment of the Authority, are attempts to circumvent the law. This includes offerings of free drinks, or multiple drinks for free or for the price of a single drink, or for a low initial price followed by a price increment per hour or other period of time." Open bars at private events like weddings or your cousin's bar mitzvah are still allowed.
This law appears to mark the end of the 2-for-1 or any other arrangement for you to drink for under half-price. Or at least the end of of restaurants boasting drink specials on chalkboards outside for the time being. But should you discreetly offer the server a $20 for a "grown-up tomato juice that magically refills itself..."
Update 2/27/14: The SLA has clarified their original statement to include "a limited exception in the statute when the service of alcohol is incidental to the event, such as in the case of certain brunch specials." Cool!
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