FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Food

Why Selling Bacon-Infused Vodka Is Illegal in Oklahoma

It seems as if the state of Oklahoma takes serious objection to the DIY nature of infusing. In fact, so fierce is the state’s grievance with the technique, that they actually arrested and charged someone for making and serving bacon-infused vodka.
Photo via Flickr user jamonitmack

There are few techniques more ubiquitous in the world of bartending than the infusing of liquors with outside ingredients. Infusions are a damn easy way to create new flavors, aromas, and colors in what could otherwise be run-of-the-mill spirits. And plenty of amateur mixologists are taken with infusions, too. Hell, can you even consider it higher education if you haven't drunkenly stood in your dorm's communal bathroom and jammed a bunch of peppercorns into some horrendously low-grade vodka?

Advertisement

Sadly, it seems as if the state of Oklahoma takes serious objection to the DIY nature of infusing. In fact, so fierce is the state's grievance with the technique that they actually arrested and charged someone for making and serving bacon-infused vodka.

The manager of The Pump Bar, an Oklahoma City bar located in a former Texaco station that bills itself as a "funky haunt" with "creative cocktails," was in for one hell of a surprise when he was recently arrested by the Oklahoma City Police Department for selling liquor he infused with ingredients like bacon, garlic, and jalapeños.

The problem was that Oklahoma has a law—namely Title 37, Chapter 3, Section 584, Article 5, Section 30-97, as defined in Section 30-96—that prohibits "maintaining a disorderly house by violation of the state's prohibition laws by the unlawful refill of a liquor bottle."

Yes, it all comes down to the problem of refilling a bottle of vodka, something that is illegal in Oklahoma. Sergeant Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police explained to The Journal Record that, with regard to bottles of alcohol served in public places, "You cannot put anything into it and serve it. You can only pour out of it."

Ian McDermid, who owns The Pump Bar, said that their brunch Bloody Marys are extremely popular. In fact, in the second half of 2015, when infused-vodka drinks were first introduced at the bar, sales of Bloody Marys alone topped $16,000. McDermid and his customers were pretty shocked when a local police officer came into the bar and arrested the manager for violating the law.

"You should see the look on people's faces, the laughs, when you say my manager went to county lockup for three days because we put strips of bacon inside a bottle of vodka," McDermid said. He has since hired a lawyer to ask the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission to make a declaratory ruling, specifically addressing the question of whether infusions, like the ones The Pump Bar makes, are indeed a violation of the intent of the law, which doesn't mention infusions by name.

Since the arrest, The Pump Bar hasn't been serving its popular bacon-infused vodka. They're hoping for a ruling from the alcohol commission by mid-July.

In the meantime, the people of Oklahoma City will have to infuse their vodka at home—all because Oklahoma is concerned about the problem of refilling bottles.

Let's hope this problem gets resolved in a way that preserves the sanctity of the bacon-enhanced boozy brunch.