WASHINGTON — A mistake by Montgomery County’s Department of Liquor Control has some restaurant owners fuming.
This time the error meant missed deliveries and specialty items that were ordered for holiday events were suddenly unavailable to customers.
Mike Jones at Bethesda’s American Tap Room was not satisfied with the letter of apology Director of Liquor Control George Griffin issued to businesses. Referring to the letter, and Griffin’s mea culpa, Jones said, “It’s a broken record at this point.”
“We were actually out of Guinness — one of our high premium holiday beverages,” Jones said.
Along with not getting the specialty items he’d hoped for, Jones says he was left short by the foul up. Jones says the error on the part of the DLC led to headaches at the height of the holiday party season — including the week leading up to and after Christmas.
“We received no kegs for the week coming into those parties, and we were down on our supplies by at least 50 percent,” Jones said.
In the letter to businesses, Griffin explained it was a human error that led to the consolidation of files in a delivery schedule. The letter, dated Dec. 30, explained that a backlog existed, and that additional orders were being made in an attempt to have all orders filled by the busy New Year’s Eve date.
At the same time, shoppers at the county’s retail outlets found fliers defending the current system as a way of raising revenue that funds county programs and “stays in the county working for us, not in the pockets of out-of-state liquor interests.”
Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, said the 10,000 fliers cost “a few thousand dollars” and helped people understand the benefits of the county’s control of liquor distribution.
Leggett has said if the county loses the up to $35 million in revenues liquor sales provide, the county would have to cut programs and raise taxes.
Several bar and restaurant owners attended a December news conference where Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot announced he’d support legislation to hold a referendum on ending the county’s monopoly on liquor sales and distribution. Delegate Bill Frick, a Montgomery County Democrat, who’s working on the proposed bill said last month he believed its chances for passage were good.
