atlanta — There’s a social media push from some concerned Atlantans to change the city’s Happy Hour laws.
In Atlanta, restaurants and bars cannot offer ‘Happy Hour’ drink specials. They can offer food specials but, according to city law, drink specials must be an all day affair. For the purposes of this story, we will refer to these archaic regulations as “anti-Happy Hour” laws.
No drink specials during happy hour, you ask? That seems un-American, you say? Well, Georgia is a bit different from much of the nation in regards to alcohol laws. That’s been evidenced by the lengthy battle craft breweries had to fight to be able to sell their beer to-go. Or the brunch bill which just passed, allowing voters to decide if restaurants in their jurisdictions can sell alcohol before noon on Sundays.
“Georgia is a very special state,” said Michelle Stumpe, an attorney who specializes in hospitality and alcoholic beverage licensing laws. “In most jurisdictions and most states you might have a set of state laws or it might just be up to the local jurisdiction.”
Georgia has 3 tiers of booze laws: state, local, and Department of Revenue regulations.
“It’s roughly 200 different sets of alcohol laws in Georgia,” explains Stumpe.
Atlanta is far from the only municipality in Georgia with anti-Happy Hour laws. In fact, most have them. The impetus behind the law is to cut down on DUI and binge drinking.
“When you have nickel beers from 5 to 7 it's going to encourage people to drink more during that period of time because they can get the discount,” explains Stumpe. “So when you take away the happy hour law, people aren't feeling compelled to hurry up and get more drinks while the price is still low.”
These laws have been on the books in Atlanta, and other municipalities, for decades. But some communities are changing them slowly.
If you want to enjoy a traditional happy hour with drink specials, a few municipalities have made that legal: City of Marietta, Douglasville, Douglas County and DeKalb County to name a few.
Many counties still allow restaurants and bars to offer drink specials. They simply must be offered all day and not limited to a particular time span, such as Happy Hour.
