Watering Down the Beer

Starting in 2011, bars, restaurants and liquor stores in Colorado will have to certify that all the beer they sell is more than 4 percent alcohol by volume or 3.2 percent alcohol by weight. State law says that only convenience stores and grocery stores can sell "low alcohol" beer. But those grocery stores and convenience stores can't sell beer with higher alcohol content. The legislature has refused to change the law and allow everyone to sell the higher alcohol beer, so the convenience stores and grocery owners got lawmakers to pass a law requiring the state to start enforcing the ban on bars, restaurants, and liquor stores selling beer with low alcohol content.