Alcohol board denies a second bar at a Wasilla wedding venue

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board told a Wasilla wedding venue it cannot put a second plumbed bar in its new building, so the owner plans to roll one in instead.

Doug Massie built a 6,000-square-foot venue at Knik Landing on Knik Goose Bay Road, in a separate building next to Knik Bar & Liquor Store. He asked the board for a fixed bar counter there. State law requires multiple fixed counters to sit in the same building, board member Diane Thompson said, reading the statute aloud, and the motion failed 4-0.

The board approved the rest. It transferred the site's two liquor licenses and approved the expanded premises, excluding and tabling the counter request, then voted unanimously to refund Massie's endorsement fees.

Massie said he was told his plans looked acceptable before he built. Chief Investigator Joe Bankowski confirmed an agent had told him the diagram looked good.

"I've invested about $1.2 million into this operation and had I known that we would be stalled out here, I would've gone a different route," Massie told the board.

He retains appeal rights. In the meantime, he says he will use a rolling bar.