Maryland Business

Just like last year, an alcohol tax is being proposed as part of health legislation in this year’s legislative session.

The bill, which has not been scheduled for a hearing, is emotional for both sides — higher taxes on the one side and health care on the other can elicit some pretty strong arguments.

Today I got an e-mail that the legislation is being renamed (maybe for an extra tug on those heart strings?) to the Lorraine Sheehan Health and Community Services Act of 2010 in honor of former Del. Sheehan who died last year. Sheehan was elected to the House of Delegates in 1974, 1978 and 1982. She also served as Maryland Secretary of State from 1983 to 1987 and was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

Emotions aside, let’s look at the breakdown. Essentially the bill would raise taxes to pay for health programs.

• Distilled spirits would go from $1.50 to $10.03 per gallon,
• Wine would go from 40 cents to $2.96 per gallon
• Beer would go from 9 cents to $1.16 per gallon

Con: Opponents of the act say restaurateurs and other distributors can’t afford another tax when the recession has made survival hard for many business owners. From the Restaurant Association of Maryland:

While tax increase supporters will argue that it has been far too long since such taxes were increased, they forget that sales tax on alcohol increased by 20 percent along with all other taxable goods and services during the most recent sales tax increase in January 2008. It would be unfair to our industry to target alcohol for another increase.

Pro: Supporters say the tax would only raise the cost by about 10 cents per drink while raising roughly $214 million in new revenue. Here’s how the revenue would be divided:

• 15 percent: Development Disability Support Fund
• 15 percent: Addiction Treatment and Prevention Fund
• 15 percent: Mental Health Care Fund
• 42.25 percent: Maryland Medicaid Trust Fund to fund health care coverage for childless adults

Like so many battles it’s business owners pitted against public programs — what side do you fall on?

Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes have finally joined the 21st Century.

A new Web site has launched today, and gone are the cheesy, static designs, now replaced with– among other things — a count down clock, moving graphics and a ton more information.

For example, did you know that during the Civil War the Woodlawn vase (presented to every Preakness winner) was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery to be kept safe from being stolen and melted down for bullets?

Oh, and there’s also relevant info about parking, dining, menus, etc.

But on a sour note for those who are Infield regulars and still plan on going — despite the new alcohol policy — you’d better hurry up and get your tickets now if you want to lock in on last year’s ticket price of $45 (the online-only advance price available). If you wait until later, that goes up to $50, and if you buy your tickets at Pimlico the day of the race, it’ll run you $60.

Ah, but at least the Web site’s more fun, right?

Almost as if to rub it in that the Preakness’ infield is no longer BYOB, the event’s promoters announced today who its title sponsor would be: You guessed it, Bud Light.

Here’s what Robert Barraco, geographic marketing manager for Anheuser-Busch Inc., had to say about the 2009 Bud Light Preakness InfieldFEST in a news release: “This partnership allows us to market Bud Light in the classic setting that is the Pimlico Race Course. It is an honor to be a part of bringing these two great brands together and we are looking forward to an exciting weekend.”

OK, I’m going to pick on Barraco a little here, but since when has Bud Light and its goofy, low ball humor commercials (of which I’m a fan, by the way) ever made anyone think of a ‘classic’ and prestigious horse race? Not that the infield crowd was ever prestigious, but by banning outside beverages, the race’s organizers have indicated they’d like to turn up the maturity (and civility) level a notch. Even using Budweiser with its iconic Clydesdales would have made more sense as a title sponsor if that’s what you’re going for.

But more importantly, does anyone else smell something fishy here? With all the uproar over outside alcohol being banned from the infield, the organizers then score Bud Light as the top supporter of the event. Conspiracy theorists, take your shot…

An NFL ban on liquor and lottery sponsorships may be lifted for next season if the recession continues to scare away advertisers, the Sports Business Journal reported this week.

The proposal was approved by the league’s business ventures committee this month and is expected to be on the agenda for the owners meeting starting Sunday in Dana Point, Calif. The NBA also recently lifted liquor regulations, allowing for teams to market products at retail, in ads and on arena signs.

“If the NFL allows co-branded spirits marketing, it is expected to take the same course as other leagues and not allow direct designations, like the ‘official Scotch whisky [sic] of the Green Bay Packers,’ along with requiring a heavy social responsibility message,” the SBJ says.

Seems to me like Crown Royal whiskey and its distinctive purple velvet bag would be a natural fit for the Ravens. (And, interestingly enough, SBJ notes Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president of sales and marketing, was a Diageo marketer for 17 years and with the company when it broke NASCAR’s ban on liquor advertising with Crown Royal and others in 2005.)

Maybe it’s about time the NFL broke down this sponsorship distinction. Yes, hard liquor and gambling carry a bigger stigma in our society than just drinking beer and wine (i.e., no liquor sold in Maryland on Sundays). But it’s not as if beer is reserved only for those who are morally pure and immune to trouble — anyone who’s ever been to a bar knows that’s not true either.

But would this allowance by the NFL set a worrisome precedent? If it bends on this to allow for more revenue opportunities, what’s next? Playboy Magazine ads?

Grab your eye patches, peg legs and hornpipes, International “Talk Like a Pirate” Day is Sept. 19 and Clipper City Brewing Co. is celebrating the holiday at the brewery by forcing people to look ridiculous in exchange for alcohol.

Featuring music from — of course — The Salty Dog Band, the shindig will debut the release of this year’s batch of Clipper City’s Winter Storm ale…but the catch is it’s only available to attendees dressed in pirate garb, so get cracking now on your costume.

If you don’t want to look like a bilge rat (and if you don’t know what that means you really need to keep reading) luckily there are a plethora of Web sites devoted to the topic of walking and talking like a pirate.

Talklikeapirate.com promises to give “your conversation a swagger, an elán, denied to landlocked lubbers.” If you want to go all-out, Dresslikeapirate.com offers everything from French coats to treasure chests. And if you want to impress your pirate friends by dropping some knowledge, the Golden Age of Piracy would be a good resource to check out.

So have fun shivering your timbers and “arrr”ing ‘til your throat is sore but be careful not to hornswaggle your bartender out of her tips or ye won’t be welcome back. Tickets, which include a Heavy Seas Pint Glass and beer samples, are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer 

When you’re enjoying your nice glass of chardonnay, pinot noir or maybe merlot this summer, names like Napa Valley, Bordeaux and Alsace may cross your mind. Now you can add J.O. to that list of grape-crushing gurus.

Though Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden’s days of mashing defensive linemen into the ground are over, he’s now part of a different gridiron – Gridiron Cellars.

As part of Charity Wines, which has also teamed with O’s legends Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray, Gridiron Cellars will debut Ogden Cabernet in stores and online Oct. 1. Retailers can pre-order the limited edition wine beginning this Monday, Aug. 18.

A bottle will only cost you $14, and for it’s a good cause. All the proceeds will go to the Jonathan Ogden Foundation.

FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

Assistant Business Editor Ben Mook uncovered an alarming story yesterday when the U.S. District Court for Maryland ordered Discovery Communications, of Silver Spring, to turn over footage to help the defense of an animal rights group that’s being sued in China.

A civil lawsuit filed in Beijing claims The International Fund for Animal Welfare impugned the reputation of a Chinese business through a web article claiming a wine it makes uses tiger skeletons as an ingredient.

The subpoenaed footage, which has not aired in the U.S., is from an episode of Animal Planet’s Crime Scene Wild series, and examines the Guilin Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Mountain Villa Entertainment Center and its making of “bone fortified wine.” Guilin Xiongsen runs a tiger farm, villa, restaurant and winemaking operation at Bear & Tiger Mountain.

The villa’s defense? They’ve got the wrong bones.

“The main ingredients of the ‘animal bone medicated wine’ produced by [Guilin Xiongsen] are rice wine, papayas and African lion bones, and do not include any ‘tiger bone’ ingredients at all,” the company said in the lawsuit.

Read Ben’s online-only story at our main Web site.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

As a whiskey drinker, and more specifically, an enthusiastic drinker of Maryland whiskeys (which means, in effect, rye whiskeys), I was thrilled when a friend linked me to whiskipedia, launched on the first of the year.

It’s pretty self-explanatory: an online, open-source encyclopedia of whiskey. But unfortunately, whiskipedia, even though it’s mostly written by “well-known whisky author” Gavin Smith, falls way too short.

I typed in “Maryland,” expecting to read a treatise on Maryland’s glorious history as the rye whiskey capital of the world, but instead found only one reference to the tidewater state, shamefully after Pennsylvania, in the entry about rye.

Baltimore yields 0 results, and Pikesville, the glorious, once-Baltimore-based rye that is my cheap whiskey of choice, is mentioned only once, in the rye article. Absurdly, there is no entry at all for the Whiskey Rebellion, a turning point in whiskey history, as all good hooch-swillers know, that took place in no small part in Maryland.

Frustrated, I typed in the name of my favorite scotch, an Orkney Isles poison called Highland Park, figuring hey, maybe rye just isn’t their thing!

No results.

Until whiskipedia gets it together, I’ll stick to wikipedia, which actually lists the brands of rye available under an extensive rye whiskey entry, and whiskygrotto.com.

ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer

Our Maryland Business Friday feature story today highlights The Leffler Agency’s 400-person holiday soiree - one of Baltimore’s annual traditions.

I was struck by a quote from one attendee:

“I literally changed my vacation plans because I’ve missed the party for the last three years,” said Roy Deutschman, an account executive for WERQ–FM 92.3 and WOLB-AM 1010 in Baltimore who rescheduled a trip to Italy just so he could party down with Leffler and friends.

Now, I’m sure the party spared no expense - but rescheduling a trip to Italy? It’s hard for me to imagine that. If I hadn’t attended The Daily Record’s, I would have missed out on a great buffet, an open bar, and a few memorable karaoke performances. But I don’t think it could hold a candle to a trip to Italy.

Did your holiday party offer up a truly can’t-miss opportunity? (Remember, you don’t need to provide your name to comment here).

Maybe something as regrettable as this YouTube clip?

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/GfbLnjQgVBM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Well, it could have been better, but it could have been worse. Baltimore is the 46th safest drunken city in a recent survey by Men’s Health magazine. Not bad out of 100.

The survey, which is being reported by KNBC in Los Angeles, looked at drunken driving, liver disease, and other alcohol-induced crimes. But seriously folks, I have never felt that Baltimore is a city that drinks to excess, though we are prone to a certain type of brew.

However, some of our neighbors are more extreme examples from the survey. Richmond, Va. was the ninth best, while Washington was the eighth-worst.

So what do you think? Is Baltimore really that much safer than Washington when it comes to alcohol consumption?

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer