The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether Bijou, 51 Stuart St., deserves any sort of punishment for the way BPD detectives found "numerous male patrons swigging champagne from 750-ml bottles - glowing 750-ml bottles - as they strolled around the club on New Year's Eve.
Bijou co-owner George Aboujaoude and attorney Karen Simao acknowledged the violation of state law - which requires champagne only be consumed with food - and in glassware - and said club managers will redouble their efforts to keep people from just taking champagne bottles from their tables and walking or dancing around.
But they said managers face an uphill battle, because these are not just any champagne bottles - they are "luminous" champagne bottles, lit with an LED that makes the bottles really stand out, and people just want to flaunt them all over the place, they said.
"Culturally today, this seems to be a thing that's happening," Simao said. She said the problem was probably "increased ten times" on New Year's Eve.
Board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini asked why, if it's an issue, the club couldn't just ordered plain old unlit champagne from its distributors. Aboujaoude said the problem is that distributors now reserve the unilluminated bottles for the restaurant trade, but told Pulgini he would ask.
Simao said this has become "an ongoing problem throughout the city." Sgt. Det. Robert Mulvoy, however, said, "I really don't see a rampant amount of this."
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Comments
Ah Boston...
By SoBo-Yuppie
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 1:57pm
...sigh...
Dennis Quilty must be on vacation
By Mr. Bink
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 2:19pm
....I was going to say "no Dennis, no victory" for Bijou, but then I quickly googled and found both Simao and Quilty work for the same firm. Shucks.
She's no DQ, but Atty. Simao did enlighten me to the troubling issue of illuminated champagne bottles overtaking our great city.
At first I thought it said
By Kinopio
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 2:28pm
At first I thought it said people were "swinging" the bottles, which sounds dangerous. But then I realized it said "swigging" and there was no danger, just another ridiculous local law concerning food and alcohol.
I've heard some bad excuses before
By erik g
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 2:34pm
but "we WANT to stop serving champagne in LED-lit bottles, but the distributor won't sell us any like that!" has to be up there with the worst of them. What if you were to get another brand of bubbly, guys? I think one or two of the venerable French institutions (most in production for centuries) might be willing to sell you a bottle or two.
I know!
By Gary C
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 3:00pm
Just what I was thinking....total BS.
Speaking for French insitutions
By bgl
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 3:23pm
Dom Perignon does come in the light up bottle surprisingly. That said - what does it matter if the bottle lights up or not? Who cares?
Moreover
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 6:16pm
Isn't a bottle "glassware"?
Not that I believe for a moment that these were reduced to a single serving before being used as such ...
Believe it or not, due to our
By DuckingA
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 6:16pm
Believe it or not, due to our ridiculous liquor distributor laws it is not so simple. It is not like they can just go to the packy and pick a different brand up. This may be very well all be what their distributor will sell them. Also, it isn't like there is much brand choice either. While there are lots of brands out there, there are really only a couple of brands that people actually want to buy. Can you imagine the backlash, for example, if Mcdonald's switched to RC cola?
Quelle horreur!
By Steeve
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 2:51pm
Quelle horreur!
People drinking alcohol out
By anon
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 5:05pm
People drinking alcohol out of containers shaped the wrong way certainly sounds like a problem we need to solve.
Are they worried about broken glass?
By Ron Newman
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 5:18pm
Otherwise I don't see what the problem is here.
Lighted bottles = infernal device!
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 6:18pm
Can't you see ... this is a SINISTER bottle with batteries and wires and lights!
Observation
By anon
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 6:30pm
I've been in Colombia for two weeks and have really enjoyed the country's laws regarding alcohol. Not only can you buy beer and liquor pretty much anywhere but you can also legally drink in parks, on the street and at the beach.
Why can't we have similar laws in Boston?
Shark tank
By Tom32456754
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 6:50pm
Mr Wonderful from Shark Tank will have a solution to the problem, 1 or 2 servings of champagne or wine in one bottle. No need to order regular 750 ml bottles.
Why because
By Donald White
Wed, 02/01/2017 - 2:32am
Then they can only charge 20 dollars instead of probably 100-200 for the 750ml
The illuminated-bottle horror is exactly the kind of portent
By MC Slim JB
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 10:27pm
of the End Times predicted in Dom Perignon's Revelations.
Repent now, preferably with an unilluminated can of Schlitz with a Green Chartreuse back.
OK, I'll ask, just because someone should
By anon
Wed, 02/01/2017 - 12:38am
Why is it relevant that that the patrons are male?
If they'd been a particular skin color, would that have been mentioned?
because
By youaskedforit
Wed, 02/01/2017 - 8:14am
men are stupid
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