February 1, 1982

Mr. Thomas C. Barnett, Jr. 
Deputy State's Attorney 
Haakon County
Philip, South Dakota 57567

Official Opinion No. 82-4

Consumption of low-point beer on premises licensed for other alcoholic beverages

Dear Mr. Barnett:

You have requested an official opinion from this office in regard to the following question:

QUESTION: 

May persons under the age of twenty-one years consume low-point beer on Sunday in an establishment holding a low-point beer license but also licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages other than low-point beer?

It would appear some alcoholic beverage licensees holding both a low-point beer and a hard liquor license under SDCL ch. 35-4 are permitting persons under the age of twenty-one to consume alcoholic beverages on Sunday when their hard liquor establishment is closed. In my opinion this would be a violation of law since SDCL 35-4-79 prohibits a licensee from permitting any person less than twenty-one years old to loiter on the licensed premises or to sell, serve, dispense or consume alcoholic beverages on such premises.  The fact that the sale of hard liquor is suspended for a particular period of time does not constitute the premises a 'non-licensed premise' inasmuch as SDCL 35-4-41 provides that the period covered by liquor licenses is from twelve o'clock midnight on the thirty-first day of December till twelve o'clock midnight on the thirty-first day of the next December with sale being prohibited after two o'clock a.m. on Sundays and at certain other times as prescribed in SDCL 35-4-81.

I adhere to the result reached in Official Opinion 75-40 holding that persons  between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years are prohibited from consuming beer on the premises of an on-sale establishment even if the establishment also has a 3.2 beer license.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark V. Meierhenry
Attorney General