Aloha! As you may have guessed, this week we are traveling to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and our 50th state, Hawaii. I have had a draft for this post for quite a while containing nothing but the title and this little tidbit that I picked up somewhere and knew I needed to keep.

By law, you may only have one alcoholic drink in front of you at a time.

But we’ll get back to that in a later post. Because when I started researching Hawaii liquor law this morning I came across another interesting subject. (Squirrel!!)

I don’t know yet whether this applies to other parts of the state, but in Honolulu (actually the entire island of Oahu is Honolulu County) employees who sell and serve liquor must be licensed. The must obtain a Certificate of Registration or “Liquor Card”. It costs $10 (I think we see WHY this is required. 😉 ) and is good for four years.

Restaurant and retail type licensees only require Managers/Assistant Managers to register. “Dispenser, Cabaret, Hotel, Club, Brewpub, or Condominium Hotel licensees require all employees in that section of the licensed premises where liquor is sold, served or consumed to be registered.

But wait! There’s more!

All Managers, Assistant Managers and Bartenders of liquor establishments (restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, vessels, etc.), and all Managers and Assistant Managers of retail stores are required to take the “Server-Training class”.  This too is good for four years.

I’m really not sure why these are required, except that Hawaii is a pretty “progressive” state that feels like if there isn’t a regulation for that then there needs to be. I can kind of see some good in the training aspect. But I think there are much more important things that we need to be spending money on.

What do you think?

So let me know what you think. Do other states or jurisdictions require licensing and/or training to sell or serve booze? Do you think it’s a good idea? Maybe not? We want to hear about it. Leave a comment below. Or email me at Mark@CrazyLiquorLaws.com. You will need to register to comment and at that time I will need your email address; but don’t worry; I won’t be spamming you and will never sell your information.

Cheers!

Mark