{"id":2497,"date":"2015-05-13T23:59:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T05:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2015-05-13T23:59:12","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T05:59:12","slug":"grapes-of-wrath-california-abc-puts-the-squeeze-on-wine-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/grapes-of-wrath-california-abc-puts-the-squeeze-on-wine-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Grapes of Wrath: California ABC Puts the Squeeze on Wine Event"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least no one was beaten half to death.<\/p>\n
While not as grotesque as the neo-fascism<\/a> of Virginia’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, California’s ABC just made its own bid for most repugnant government agency.\u00a0 For 14 years the city of Sacramento, California has hosted “Grape Escape,” a summer festival of wine-tasting and food.\u00a0 This harmless event, sponsored by the grocery chain Save Mart, consistently drew thousands of attendees and boosted local tourism.\u00a0 But no more.\u00a0 With just three weeks to go before opening, Grape Escape 2015 has been effectively stomped out.<\/p>\n Why?\u00a0 Apparently California still has a prohibition-era law<\/a> on the books that bars alcohol producers from promoting retailers like Save Mart.\u00a0 It seems that at last year’s Grape Escape several winemakers mentioned the name of sponsor Save Mart in tweets.\u00a0 Some busybody scurried off to inform the ABC.\u00a0 After the event, eight wineries were “investigated” by ABC brownshirts<\/a>:<\/p>\n “We were told that we were going to be put on probation for 12 months and if we repeat that violation within the 12 months, we could be fined up to, I think it was like $100,000, and have our license suspended or revoked.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n