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Government limits super booze

Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 17/05) - Sales of booze containing more than 50 per cent alcohol are now limited to one bottle per person a day, but the territorial government isn't sure how it will enforce the new rule.



As of Monday, the government restricted the sale of booze with more than 50 per cent alcohol to one bottle a day per person.



At one bottle a person, your choices are:

  • Appleton Dark Rum
  • Bacardi 151
  • Lamb's Navy
  • Wray and Nephew
  • Bundaberg OP Rum
  • Smirnoff Blue
  • Canadian Club 100
  • NFLD London Dock


  • The move is a response to Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya's call for a ban on the sale of overproof liquor during the last legislative session, and concerns raised by NWT communities, Finance Minister Floyd Roland said Monday.

    Although the ban took effect Monday, Roland said enforcement details have not been been worked out.

    Yakeleya had originally called for a full ban, but Roland said "we're going to see how this goes before taking any further steps.

    "Our store operators will be able to tell us if people are coming back on a regular basis," Roland said.

    With two liquor stores in Yellowknife, customers could buy one bottle per store. "There's absolutely no way that we can stop that," said liquor shop manager Donna Smith.

    Aside from posting notices around the store, and asking cashiers to keep track of whether customers are trying to buy more than one bottle, Smith has no details on how to enforce the new rule.

    Normal hard liquor contains 40 per cent alcohol by volume. Overproof contains upwards of 57.1 per cent alcohol, while high-alcohol products have 50 per cent or more alcohol.

    Strong booze products are estimated to account for up to three per cent of the territory's liquor sales.

    "It's nothing to sell five or six of these at a time," said Yellowknife downtown liquor store employee Maureen Jones, holding a 750-ml bottle of Bacardi 151 rum, which contains 75.5 per cent alcohol.

    As of Monday afternoon, she had not heard complaints from people wanting to buy more than one bottle.

    According to the NWT Liquor Commission's annual report, spirit sales at Yellowknife's two liquor stores tallied almost $6.3 million in 2004, and have been relatively stable for the past two years.

    Of the seven liquor stores across the territory, only those in Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, and Fort Smith sell overproof products.

    "Most of our customers won't be inconvenienced by this," Roland said.