Here’s why bottomless mimosas in Charlotte are going away

If you’ve been a long-time bruncher you’ve probably noticed this. 5Church stopped offering them. So did Heist Brewery and Leroy Fox.

Restaurants like these have mostly switched to an a la carte menu. Instead of bottomless drinks for $12, you’re getting them for $3 to $5 each.

Why? State alcohol laws.

Don’t complain to your server. Complain to your state legislator.

The reason why restaurants are dropping bottomless drinks is because North Carolina outlaws them.

“A permittee may not sell more than one drink to a patron for a single price. Therefore bottomless drinks is a violation of this regulation,” Michael Crowley, chief of the Mecklenburg County ABC Board Law Enforcement Division, wrote me in an email. Permittee means somebody with a license to serve alcohol here.

These laws are also why there are no happy hours and why you can’t buy booze before noon on Sunday. Presumably you should all be at church instead of brunching.

Is this being enforced?

Kind of. Nobody’s going out and doing stings and busts. But if the county ALE receives a complaint, they’ll investigate. Michael Crowley said his office could send an undercover officer to buy a bottomless drink.

Usually ALE will simply inform the restaurant of the law through a written warning. They could also file a complaint with the ABC Commission in Raleigh (there are no records of this being done yet in Charlotte). Worst case this could lead to a fine or losing an alcohol permit.