St. Mary’s County Alcohol Beverage Board meets monthly to, well, these are the words in their mission statement:
Buzzy’s Country Store, under my watch, has been before the Board twice. First, in 2007 to have the liquor license transferred from Dad to me; and then in April 2016 as described here in the meeting’s agenda:
This 2016 appearance before the Board was generated from the visit of then Governor Larry Hogan to Buzzy’s where the powers-that-be noticed folks were drinking on the porch. After Hogan’s visit, I was informed that Buzzy’s did not have an “Extension of premise” permit and that I had to appear before and request such designation from the Board. I wasn’t too happy about having to do all this of course. However, on the day of the meeting, when I learned that my request was being considered along with George Quade’s and Brian Tarleton’s, I then considered it kinda cool that the three of us appeared together and all of us were seeking extension of premises permission.
These thoughts came to mind then as I read over the agenda for the Alcohol Board’s recent 14 March 2024 meeting and saw the following:
I then watched the following video of the actual 14 March meeting.
Couple observations:
- Chairman David Willenborg did a good job covering agenda items and keeping things moving.
- My Beverage Association friends David Dent and Joe Kurley appeared (49:00 mark) and updated the Board on alcohol-related bills currently being considered in Annapolis.
- Sure seemed like a lot of folks named Patel were getting liquor licenses as in 4 out of 6 of the above transfers. If Catholic school math does me right, that sounds like close to 2/3’s doesn’t it?