Why do bars stop serving alcohol at 2 am? Why can’t you buy liquor in Ohio at 8am on a Sunday? Why do restaurants have to fence in little patios to serve alcohol outside? Why can’t you buy the new Sam Adams specialty beer in Ohio?

Those wild and crazy guys at Boston Beer Co. have done it again, brewing a beer so strong they label it 48 proof, using terminology usually reserved for spirits. Sam Adams Utopias MMII, which goes on sale this month, is in fact 24% alcohol by volume, making it the strongest commercial beer in the world.

via Realbeer.com: Beer Break – Sam Adams Brews Strongest Beer Ever.

And last but not least, why can you enlist in the Army and vote, but not buy a beer?

We’ll leave that last one alone, because Mothers Against Drunk Driving can make a pretty good case for why young drivers shouldn’t be drinking- but, then again, no drivers should be drinking, so what’s the difference?

For years, shift workers and restaurant workers have found “illegal after-hours” establishments to go to after work for a drink. With a 24/7/365 economy, why are we still pretending that one size of hours fits all? We live in a world of 24 hour grocery stores- so why not let business do what makes sense for them.

This wouldn’t mean a change for many bars, because their clientele may still be on a conventional schedule, but for large “party palaces” like Masque, Hammerjax or Vex downtown, why not keep the party going all night?

Not being a huge fan of zoning codes that are applied to manage people, the condition of extended hours may just be that there are usage fees charged back to establishments for police calls to the establishment for problems outside or stemming from patrons, with a set limit of infractions causing a curtailing of hours.

Would this change in policy really hurt a majority of Ohioans? Probably not. What it may help is giving people a way to escape more often from the realities that this global economy is throwing our way, and provide additional economic opportunity for bar owners to keep their parties going all – night – long.

And for the record: I don’t drink alcohol at all.