Kettering liquor store applies for licenses to host beer, wine tastings

Kettering Wine & Spirits opened 5 months ago on Stroop Road next to Elsa’s

Credit: Mark Fisher

Credit: Mark Fisher

A Kettering liquor store that opened five months ago applied last week for state licenses that would allow it to serve tasting-size samples of beer and wine, according to Ohio Division of Liquor Control online records.

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Kettering Wine & Spirits, 1218 E. Stroop Road in the Fairmont Plaza Shopping Center, applied Jan. 22 for three separate licenses that would allow for on-premise consumption and tastings of beer and wine, and for the potential to host spirits tastings as well under special circumstances, according to state records.

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Unlike beer and wine tastings, spirits tastings would have to be conducted by a “trade marketing professional, broker or solicitor,” according to state law. Because of that restriction and others in the law, spirits tastings have been much rarer in Ohio than beer and wine tastings.

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Messages left with the owners of Kettering Wine & Spirits were not immediately returned. We will update this story with any new information.

The new liquor store opened in August 2019 in space next door to the Elsa’s Mexican Restaurant &  Sports Bar in Kettering. The space previously housed Run Around Fun Town.

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Kettering Wine & Spirits is owned by G.B. Bhatara and his family, who have operated the Springboro state-agency liquor store for more than 10  years before obtaining state approval to open a second location in Kettering.

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In October 2019, Kettering Wine & Spirits manager Gary Bhatara said customer response during the store’s first five weeks had been positive.

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“People love it,” Bhatara said. “They like the size of the store, the open space, and our selection, which continues to grow. We are getting busier and busier every week.”

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