Illinois Community Acts to Ban 40 Ounce Brews

After debating a ban on all beer in bottles and cans in sizes of 24 ounces or larger, the Granite City, Ill., Council compromised and voted this week to prohibit beer in bottles that are 40 ounces or larger.

Local police said the law would help them crack down on public drinking and littering. The 40-ounce bottle is a popular package for malt liquor brands. The law does not cover beer in containers that are three gallons or larger.

This type of law always makes me shake my head, because the likely results are (a) Consumers will simply switch to alternative packages, and/or (b) Someone in the packaging department at a major brewer is already hard at work on a 39-ounce bottle. There are already laws on the books in Granite City regarding public drinking and littering. Enforcing those laws by arresting or ticketing the violators would appear to be a more effective means of dealing with the problems than banning the 40-ounce bottle. That, however, would require actual work. The anti-40-ounce law is good for a few headlines, which politicians have been known to covet.