It was wonderful when the Howard County Council, sitting as the Howard County Board of License Commissioners, approved the rules for carryout and delivery of alcohol by licensees in Howard County. This followed what the state had approved and allowed many bars and restaurants to remain open and serve residents.

On April 8th Looney’s Pub South (located in Maple Lawn) posted the following on Facebook:

Hey everyone. We have some bad news. Howard County decided to rain on our parade and we are no longer allowed to sell our beloved 96 oz orange crush boxes. With that being said, we CAN still sell togo drinks, they just can’t be bigger than 12 ounces. We will make you WHATEVER you guys are craving. Captain and coke, you got it. Orange crush, you got it. Irish jungle juice, you got it. We are also still selling cases of beer, 6 packs of beer, wine, and liquor by the bottle!! We appreciate your continued business as always and look forward to seeing you guys on da curbsideeee 😉

We are open Thursday 3-8, Friday 12-8 and Saturday 12-8 !!

Here is the deal that Looney’s had been offering prior to that post on the 8th:

As a fan of Orange Crushes I thought that $25 for a 96oz container of that beverage was a wonderful deal. That allowed the buyer to purchase and keep it in the house for a while and not have to run out or have it delivered often thus furthering social distancing by not having to be near people as often to acquire the product.

Now Looney’s is not the only business that I have seen post about offers of more than 12oz offerings for carryout / delivery of mixed drinks (but I will not note them in this post…Howard County Liquor Board will have to go chase them down all on their own).

I went back and looked at the rules passed back on March 20th and saw item #5:

5. Alcoholic Beverages shall be in containers that are sealed at the place of manufacture or in refillable containers sealed by the licensee. A Class D licensee or Class B licensee may not sell liquor except as an ingredient in a mixed drink delivered in a sealed container that does not exceed 12 ounces; however, a Class D licensee with a liquor store attached may also sell liquor that is sealed at its place of manufacture.

Best I can tell that is the part of what was approved on March 20th by the Howard County Council that limits sales of items to be no larger that 12 ounces. So no more coffee type boxes full of orange crushes in your fridge.

I am not a Maryland liquor law expert so maybe there is another reason for the approved rules as noted above limiting sales of items to 12 ounces. If you are a liquor law expert and have more information…be sure to let me readers know in the comments.

So readers…what do you think? Should mixed drinks be capped at 12 ounces per item or should the Howard County Council look into lessening those restrictions for local businesses during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak?

Let me know in the comments.

Scott E

Article Update: it does not appear that Looney’s Pub locations outside of Howard County have been limited in selling their product (per recent social media posts):

Article Update 2: A blog reader shared the following information with me:

None of these counties that I’ve found have size requirements

Balt Co.: http://resources.baltimorecountymd.gov/…/COVID19deliver…

Balt City: https://llb.baltimorecity.gov/…/BLLC%20-%20Revised…

Frederick: https://frederickcountymd.gov/1291/Liquor-Board

PG: https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/…/BOLC-Letter…

Wicomico: (A) https://www.wicomicocounty.org/…/Governors-Executive-Order (B) https://www.wicomicocounty.org/…/Amendment-to-Board…