This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If you want to let your fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages to find where you can buy a fifth of Cutty Sark, a pint of Jim Beam or a bottle of Merlot, forget it.
It's against the law in Utah.
"That's stupid," said Larry Lunt, head of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, said Wednesday at the monthly meeting of the agency that regulates state liquor sales. "People don't normally know to look for liquor stores in the Blue Pages."
That's right.
Consumers must flip through the blue-tipped government section - not the White or Yellow business pages - look under Utah State Government and then search for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department to find locations and telephone numbers of state liquor and wine stores.
Commission members said they would be sympathetic to listing liquor outlets in the business pages, but as commission member Nicholas Hales put it, "the Yellow Pages are, by definition, where people advertise. Utah law doesn't allow us to do that."
The issue will be handed over to the Utah Legislature in a package of proposals involving what the commissioners term as some fine-tuning of the state's liquor laws.
One issue in regard to the phone directory, pondered commission member Mary ann Mantes, might be which listing the stores would be under - W for wine, L for liquor or perhaps B for beverage?
Whatever the listing, please don't call the Utah Beer Wholesalers Association. The group has stopped counting calls it receives from people at a loss for finding such information.
In fact, association President William Christoffersen said the biggest flood of calls came in August during the the American Legion's national convention, which drew more than 14,000 Legionaries and hundreds of protesters to Salt Lake City. It didn't help Christoffersen that he was serving as the Legion's national executive committeeman in charge of making the convention run smoothly, which included helping thirsty veterans locate liquor outlets.
"It's maddening that this has to be so difficult," he said.
Searching online also may be problematic. An Internet check of Salt Lake County liquor stores also pulled up a grocery store and a plumbing supply outlet.