A provision in the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget recently approved by the Legislature might give people over 21 a new reason to go to the grocery store — free liquor.

The provision will allow grocery and liquor stores to give out free samples of liquor between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to customers 21 years and older with valid identification. Each customer would be allowed three half-ounce tastes, or about a shot and a half per visit.

In Wisconsin, liquor and grocery stores are already allowed to give away free samples of beer and wine, but the new budget provision adds liquor to the list.

“It’s not something we were pushing for, but it’s nice that it’s there whether we choose to use it or not,” said Joel Kouba, General Manager of University Liquor.

According to Kouba, the provision would be useful to a person tasting different kinds of Scotch, but for clientele at University Liquor, it is not as helpful.

“Its great that people are able to taste things before they purchase them, but for a university liquor store that caters to mostly college students, it tends to be a bit messy at times,” Kouba said.

Messy or clean, Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, opposes the liquor sample provision and hopes Gov. Jim Doyle vetoes it when he finalizes the budget.

The provision is “poor public policy,” Risser said.

“I can picture a person going from grocery store to grocery store to get his free alcohol and driving with it in his system,” Risser said. “If a person wants to drink, he should go to a tavern rather than a grocery store.”

Kari Kinnard, Wisconsin Executive Director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, echoes Risser’s concerns.

“[The provision] is wide open for potential problems. Who is educating the servers on guidelines? Who is following up on those guidelines?” Kinnard asked. “Are they carding? Are they making sure they are not over serving these people?”

Even though every store can make its own decision on whether to offer free samples, alcohol distributors approach venues first and ask if they would like to do a free promotion with the distributor’s product, Kouba said.

“Generally there are representatives from the distributor giving out samples who card customers,” Kouba said.

According to Kinnard, Wisconsin has issues with drinking that need to be addressed.

“Wisconsin leads the nation in underage drinking, overconsumption and adult binge drinking,” Kinnard said. “This just reinforces those behaviors with availability and accessibility of alcohol.”

The liquor sample provision did not even follow the proper steps for introduction, according to Kinnard.

“It has no place being there,” Kinnard said. “It slipped into the budget package and legislators didn’t allow for the proper procedures of introducing the bill and allowing the opportunity for debate and discussion.”

Regardless of how the provision got into the budget, Kouda doubts it will be attractive.”I would bet that 75 percent of people are not going to go out of their way to taste, but they will take advantage of it while they’re [at University Liquor],” Kouda added. “Who wouldn’t want something for free?”

Vivian King, director of public affairs for Roundy’s Supermarket Inc. — who owns Pick ‘n’ Save and Copp’s supermarkets — said they will consider providing alcohol samples.

“We will see if it makes sense for our customers,” King said. “We [are looking for] a feasible way to implement and execute such a plan.”