Marietta Loosens Alcohol Laws

Wine, beer and spirits can now flow more freely in the Gem City.

This week, the Marietta City Council approved three new alcohol ordinances that will lift restrictions on the ability of businesses to sell wine and beer by the glass, alcohol by the bottle and sell booze during city events.

The first ordinance, approved 6-0-1, with Councilman Joseph Goldstein abstaining, will allow wine and malt beverage retailers to sell by the glass at their establishments outside of scheduled tastings.

The change came after pleas from Marietta Wine Market owner Karen Heard, who had been beholden to the city’s Ancillary Wine Tasting License, which only allowed glasses to be poured during wine tastings.

With this change, dedicated wine or beer retailers (80% or more of their sales are from wine or beer) can sell beverages by the glass outside of tasting times.

At the council’s May committee meetings, Councilman Carlyle Kent asked city staff to ensure revisions to the ordinance would only include “specialty markets.”

“We don’t want supermarkets and convenience stores pouring wine, so I think if we come up with a legal terminology to classify the specialty market, that would be sufficient,” Kent said.

The second ordinance, which passed 7-0, allows restaurants and bars already selling alcohol for consumption to peddle their provisions by the bottle.

Marietta had adjusted its relevant ordinance during the pandemic to allow businesses to offer delivery and curbside pickup purchases of packaged alcohol, but never addressed the same businesses’ ability to sell bottles from inside their brick and mortar stores.

“If you’re at a restaurant that sells wine and you might like the bottle, you could not then purchase a different bottle of that same wine from them, but they could deliver it to your house or meet you at your car on the curb in order to provide it to you,” Assistant City Manager Daniel Cummings said in May.

With the revised ordinance, those restaurants and businesses can allow carry-out purchases of unopened bottles.

The third ordinance, which also passed 7-0, will give businesses that are already allowed to sell beer and wine in the public right-of-way during city events the green light to sell liquor, too.

According to Cummings, the city has permitted beer and wine sales during such events as Chalktoberfest for at least 20 years.