WARD, Ark. — If you’re looking to grab a drink during happy hour over the weekend at a bar or restaurant, you may notice you have to put pen to paper before your first pint.
According to A.B.C. spokesperson Scott Hardin, this state law requires restaurants to maintain the book with signatures dating back six months.
“You have to sign in, that establishment has to maintain a book,” he explained. "Get a signature of all your members that will get a drink, and if you fail to do that it’s a class C violation so that permit holder a pretty healthy fine or maybe probation.
The reason for this? Arkansas state law says to serve in a dry county, a restaurant must apply and be deemed a private club by the state.
There are 330 private clubs in 29 dry counties across the state with the majority in two counties.
“More than 200 of those 330 are in Faulkner and Craighead County. So, Faulkner and Craighead are what we would say the wettest dry counties in the state," Hardin said.
It’s not just state approval for private clubs that must be approved to sell alcohol.
“You have to get the approval of the local governing body before you get the permit. If it’s in the city you get the city council. If you can’t do that and you don’t have that support you can’t even submit the private club application so you really have to have the city or the county’s buy-in before you even approach it,” he described.
Also a reminder, it may be a bit of an inconvenience to sign in before taking a sip, but the club is simply following state law.
“A.B.C. does compliance checks and they may send in someone to sure you’re not selling to minors and you’re not selling to non-members. They’re just following the rules," Hardin added. "That’s all they're doing so don’t hold it against the establishment and make you do something extra, because they’re not they’re just following the rules.”