The Wedding Under a Beer-and-Wine-Only Permit
A barn venue in a rural county rents out for a Saturday wedding. The venue holds a limited special occasion permit covering malt beverages and wine only, and you are the lead bartender, RASP-trained, hired by the caterer. The father of the bride has set four bottles of bourbon on the bar and says the permit covers the whole event, so it is fine. Guests wear wristbands, green for 21 and over and red for under 21, applied by the bride's aunt at the door. At 8:50 p.m. you notice a green-banded guest drinking wine; she is the bride's college roommate, she is 19, and the aunt gave her a green band so she would not feel left out. At 9:15 a 28-year-old groomsman, clearly drunk, who has already fallen off a hay bale and slurred the last toast, asks for one more for the real toast at 9:30. The permit runs to midnight.
1. What do you do about the bourbon on the bar?
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The bourbon stays closed. A limited special occasion permit issued for beer and wine does not cover distilled spirits, whatever the host believes; the permit names the categories. If you pour it, the venue is serving liquor without authorization, which puts the permit itself at risk and can end the event early. Tell the father plainly: the permit covers beer and wine only, so you cannot serve the bourbon and it needs to come off the bar. Put the bottles in a box behind the bar or in his car. If he refuses, stop serving and call the venue's permit holder and the caterer. If he insists on pouring it himself, that is his exposure and the venue's, and your answer is to stop pouring altogether until it is gone. Document the conversation and the time.
2. A 19-year-old is wearing a green band because the aunt gave it to her. How do you handle the wristband system now?
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The wristband is a convenience, not an ID. Anyone who appears under 30 gets carded regardless of band color, and the band system has now demonstrably failed: one green band went to a 19-year-old, which means you cannot trust the rest. Card every green band who looks young, starting with her. Refuse her, take the band, and give her a red one. Then tell the aunt and whoever is running the door that bands may be issued only after an ID check, and consider re-banding the room rather than guessing which ones are wrong. The aunt's motive was kindness; the consequence is a 19-year-old drinking under a permit you are working under, which is the fastest way to lose that permit and the caterer's future business. Note it and tell the caterer.
3. The groomsman wants one more for the 9:30 toast. What do you do, and what else needs watching?
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Refuse the drink and treat the toast as a separate problem. He has fallen off a hay bale and slurred a toast, two visible signs of intoxication, and the toast is 15 minutes away with the permit running to midnight. Pour now and you own whatever happens next. Offer a non-alcoholic pour in a champagne flute so he can still stand up with the wedding party, and tell the best man quietly that you will not be serving him again tonight. Watch his table, because someone will try to carry him a drink. If he is driving, say something to the bride's father or a sober friend. If he insists on driving and you see him get behind the wheel, call 911. Log the cut-off and tell the caterer before the shift ends.