18 March 23-29, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents made powders, hand-cut vegetables and freshly ground spices. It’s probably just one of the many reasons the food here tastes so good. For now, King and Singharath are man- ning the kitchen themselves. But it’s clear they’re in it for the passion. “I don’t mind,” King says. “One of my fa- vorite things about this job is meeting all the new faces. Seeing people enjoy our food is a form of gratification in itself.” Kin-D, 6750 Gaylord Parkway, Frisco. Daily, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. ▼ DRINKING GOT SPIRIT? A NEW BILL WANTS TO ALLOW READY-TO-DRINK BEVERAGES TO BE SOLD IN GROCERY AND CONVENIENCE STORES. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS T exas law has long regulated access to hard liquor. Grocery and convenience stores can sell only wine and beer. For the good stuff (say, tequila or bourbon), you have to head to a proper liquor store, which are closed on Sundays by the state’s blue laws. It seems normal if you’ve lived here all your life; you just plan around that. And then you visit another state and realize the wanton rev- elry involved in picking up a bottle of rum with your pimento cheese and crackers on a Sunday. Sen. Kelly Hancock (R-Fort Worth) has in- troduced a bill that flirts with challenging the state’s liquor stores monopoly on the “hard” stuff. The bill would allow “spirit coolers” to be sold along with beer and wine in grocery stores, which are sold seven days a week. Meaning hard liquor would be sold in Texas on a Sunday. But aren’t the grocery stores filled with “spirit coolers” like Truly’s and ranch waters already? Well, no. Truly, White Claw and the like — even those buckets of Fireball that have recently landed at grocery stores — are actu- ally made with malt liquor. This bill would allow ready-to-drink (RTDs) cocktails, or “spirit coolers,” like Firestone & Robertson’s TX Whiskey cans of whiskey and cola, which are made with real whiskey, to be sold alongside six-packs of Lone Star. Senate Bill 1288 states that a “spirit cooler” is any alcoholic beverage that con- sists of “alcohol, spirits of wine, whiskey, rum, brandy, gin ... that has an alcoholic con- tent of at least one-half of one percent but not more than 17 percent by volume.” There’s a companion bill in the house, HB2200. For reference, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s is 40% alcohol by volume. But cans of Crown Royal Whisky and Cola have a 7% ABV. “As industries innovate and new prod- ucts become staples in the marketplace, it only makes sense for us to take a look at ways government can reduce regulatory red tape,” Sen. Hancock said in a state- ment. “I look forward to continuing to work on legislation that keeps free market principles at the core of Texas’ economic success.” Paul Hardin is the president and CEO of the Texas Food and Fuel Association. He says it makes no sense that consumers can buy malt-based seltzers but not spirit-based canned cocktails with the same alcohol con- tent. Some social media headlines are refer- ring to this bill as a lift on liquor sales on Sunday, which is a slight misinterpretation. It’s only these “spirit coolers” at grocery and convenience stores. Liquor stores will re- main closed on Sundays. This is the fluffy- kitten version of lifting the ban on selling liquor on Sundays. There is a raucous backlash, of course, namely from liquor stores via the Texas Package Stores Association. The group is invoking “what about the children” in their battle cry to keep hard booze in booze stores only. As they see it, children can work in grocery stores, and if someone buys Jack Daniel’s Tennesse Honey Lemonade at 7% ABV, with far less alcohol than a bot- tle of red wine, and that child sees it or maybe passes it over a scanner, that could be very dangerous. Lauren Drewes Daniels Texas might allow bottled mixed drinks to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. City of Ate from p16
