The county issued a $3,000 liquor law fine Wednesday to Thirsty Turtle after the bar was found to be refilling its used bottles of liquor.
A clerk in the county liquor license office said state liquor officials were making a routine inspection of the downtown bar when they discovered some liquor bottles had been refilled with alcohol from other containers.
The county liquor code forbids the reusing, refilling, diluting or otherwise tampering with the contents of any original container.
The liquor board held a hearing Wednesday, and Turtle management reportedly accepted the fine, the clerk said.
Thirsty Turtle owner Alan Wanuck declined to comment on the fine.
A Thirsty Turtle employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being reprimanded at work, said she had not heard about bartenders mixing different brands of liquor, but said it was common practice at the bar to pour separate bottles of the same brand into one bottle to consolidate.
Senior women’s studies major Heather Hoaglin said the bar’s practice of refilling bottles and the subsequent fine likely won’t have much effect on the Thirsty Turtle patronage.
“There might be a lot of shady stuff that goes on behind the scenes at any College Park bar, but I don’t think anyone cares,” she said. “People aren’t going there to get a D.C. lounge experience. They’re going there for cheap drinks.”
goondbk@gmail.com
