COLUMBIA, S.C. - At the Pub in Columbia's Five Points bar district, most of the patrons happily toasted the minibottle farewell.

The tiny bottles, all lined up behind the bar, could go away soon after voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to decide how drinks are served.

That means the Legislature likely will pass a law next year to add larger free-pour bottles while keeping minibottles as an option.

With 93 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial results early Wednesday morning showed 59 percent of voters approved the amendment.

The 1.7-ounce bottles of liquor usually seen only on airliners had become a South Carolina peculiarity. For more than a decade, the state was the only one in the nation to prohibit drinks from being poured from bigger bottles.

Ben Reagan voted for the minibottle amendment because he wants his Jim Beam and Coke to be cheaper.

"And if you know the bartender, you might order a single but end up getting a double or a triple," Reagan said.

Supporters of the amendment not only cited cost but safety, too. The average free-pour drink has about an ounce of alcohol compared with the 1.7-ounce serving from a minibottle.

The amendment had the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Gov. Mark Sanford and the South Carolina Hospitality Association, whose membership includes most bars and restaurants in the state.

Across the bar, Cody Harlin isn't looking forward to the demise of the minibottle. He voted no because he liked that he always knew what he was getting with the tiny bottles and thinks drinks around the state are going to taste funny for a while.

"There not a lot of bartenders in Columbia who know how to free pour," he said. "All they know is how to open the bottle and pour."

Free pour liquor supporters got a fierce fight from the people who stood to lose the most: minibottle distributors and their hastily assembled Palmetto Hospitality Association.

The vote was closer than a lot of people expected because minibottle supporters poured a lot of money into radio and television ads that seized on the Legislature not passing rules on how the free pouring of liquor would start. Television commercials featured the simple tag line "No plan, no way."

That prompted Judith Mersereau, a 60-year-old teacher from Newberry, to vote against the amendment. "I voted against the General Assembly having a say where they will decide how much liquor a restaurant will serve," she said.

But in the end, the argument for cheaper drinks and safer roads won.

"It's just too costly for people to go out and have a cocktail at dinner," said Rodney Quick, a 57-year-old Mount Pleasant electrician who voted for the amendment. "In other states, when friends gather for a cocktail in the afternoon, you can go out and buy a round of drinks. If you buy a round of drinks with the minibottle, it will break you."

South Carolina Hospitality Association President Tom Sponseller celebrated the end of his 14-year quest quietly. "We're really glad we got it right for our customers," he said.

The group will push to get the new liquor law passed when lawmakers return in January so free-pour drinks can begin in July, said Sponseller, who doesn't expect a lot of resistance from the minibottle foes.

"They went for broke on their ad campaign," he said. "If you are dealing with the General Assembly, you don't want to question their integrity."

A spokeswoman for the Palmetto Hospitality Association didn't return a phone message Tuesday night.