For the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing rumblings between the Virginia ABC and Rustico’s head chef, Frank Morales, over his new concoction: beer popsicles.

As of this past Tuesday, it appears the VABC may be getting what it wants, at least for a few days. According to Morales, Rustico has temporarily halted sale of its Brew Pops due to both a cease and desist order from the VABC and mechanical problems with the restaurant's freezer. Currently, Morales and the ABC are working together to find a solution to the State's problem.

In the meantime, Morales will still forge on with production, hoping to have all five flavors–plum, cherry, grape, raspberry, and chocolate–available by next Tuesday, but recommends calling ahead to check on their status. A sixth flavor, cassis, is also in the works.

For those of you not familiar with the telenovela-like drama that has already ensued, here’s the gist. When Rustico debuted the summertime treat in late June–now officially called and copyrighted “Brew Pops” to avoid name infringement–the VABC quickly pounced on the restaurant. The issue didn’t lay in the fact that Morales was serving an adult beverage in the form of a children’s frozen snack (though you won’t find these in your neighborhood ice cream truck) but rather in that, “beer must be served in its original container, or served immediately to a customer once it is poured from its original container,” according to the AP article that broke the story last month. In its original form, which Melissa at Counter Intelligence was lucky enough to sample, the pops were 100 percent beer.

Photo from willsfca.

Morales quickly got around the bureaucracy by putting the beer through a “cooking” process. In this past Wednesday’s WaPo food section, Morales divulged his new cooking technique, which includes a heating step that evaporates most alcohol content.

Although compromise may be the best solution, should such extreme measures be necessary for a chef to experiment with ingredients? Already VABC’s convoluted, and sometimes draconian, rules have prevented us from enjoying a sangria mixed with brandy. On the other hand, chefs are free to prepare dishes cooked with wine. What do you think? Is the VABC stifling culinary creativity, or protecting the consumer?