Virginia To Lift Consumer Ban on Everclear, Other Potent Liquors

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Everclear has a notorious reputation on college campuses. For young people, the high-proof liquor is a key ingredient in experimenting with alcoholic drinks, often for the first time in their lives.

For college administrators, it's a menace, enticing students into binge drinking and more dangerous behavior. One version of Everclear is 190 proof, or 95 percent grain alcohol; another is 151 proof, or 75.5 percent. Both are tasteless, colorless and odorless, making them hard to detect in, say, the punch served at a fraternity party.

University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan has said high-proof liquors like Everclear are like a “date rape” drug because of the correlation between alcohol consumption and sexual assault.

Until this year, Virginia has banned the sale to consumers of clear grain spirits above 101 proof, or 50.5 percent alcohol. That makes it one of two states to ban the sale of Everclear (the other is Vermont). But that changes July 1, under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, according to the Capital News Service.

Fourteen states ban the sale of 190-proof liquors, including Maryland.

The new law in Virginia will allow anyone to buy Everclear and other neutral spirits of up to 151 proof at Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) stores. Currently, Everclear cannot be sold in the state-controlled stores. It can only be sold to Virginia residents who have special permits for industrial, commercial, culinary and medical uses.

Supporters of the bill, sponsored by Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, said that Everclear is legal in 48 other states, and it is often used in cooking, radio station WTOP reported.

Knight said the Virginia law that banned Everclear was outdated, a relic of Prohibition. “Now Virginians do not have to drive to other states, and give their tax money, to purchase this spirit,” he told the Capital News Service,

To meet the concerns from organizations like the Virginia College Alcohol Leadership Council, Knight agreed to include a five-year sunset clause in his bill. The General Assembly will have to vote again in 2022 to keep Everclear legal in Virginia.

In addition, under the bill, ABC could choose not to sell 151-proof liquors near college campuses, according to the Capital News Service.

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