Different but not dry

For better or worse, Utah is married to its liquor laws.

Even the 2002 Winter Games aren't big enough to break up this relationship. There will be no trial separation during the wildest bash the state will ever throw next February. Olympic visitors will find Utah is different but not dry.

Polygamy is less misunderstood than Utah's "unique" or "curious" or "quirky" alcohol code.

Drinks are here to be had, provided an imbiber knows how to go about getting one. And alcohol will be more plentiful, more available during the Games than at any time since Utah cast the deciding vote to repeal Prohibition.

Beer will be poured in places where it usually isn't.

Mixed drinks will be served in buildings commandeered for private parties. A dram of schnapps might be found in a cup of hot chocolate in a public square.

But all under the watchful eye of state alcohol regulators.

The only obvious change may be in the way that wine, liquor and heavy beer are advertised. New advertising rules, prompted not by the coming Olympics but a federal court ruling that found Utah's laws unconstitutional, are expected to be in place in December.

Revised guidelines would permit liquor products to be promoted on billboards and restaurant windows and listed on menus.

More than enough

There will be twice as many places in Salt Lake City at which to get a drink as the last two Winter Olympic cities combined, state Olympic officer Lane Beattie says, calling that "probably sufficient."

"I travel a lot. There are a lot of places that have varying liquor laws. There are blue laws in some counties in Texas where you can't buy alcohol at all," said John Sittner, Salt Lake City director of Olympic planning.

Most Olympic visitors are sophisticated travelers, he said. "They are going to know this will be different. People who want to consume alcohol generally can."

Utah is one of 18 "control" states when it comes to liquor but nowhere near as strict as Norway, the entire country of which is controlled with stern rules about when and where people may drink.

When the Olympics were in Lillehammer in 1994, there were few regular alcohol outlets, and several businesses, including a plumbing supply company, were given emergency liquor licenses to keep up with Olympic demand.