COLUMBIA, S.C. - Bars and restaurants are a step closer to pouring liquor from big bottles instead of minibottles after a Senate subcommittee approved new alcohol legislation Thursday.

Voters overwhelming approved doing away with South Carolina's unique system of pouring drinks in a November referendum. But some don't expect the change to come before January - meaning the summer tourist and fall golf seasons will come and go again with minibottles in the mix.

The change may save consumers a few cents here and there. The bill the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up Tuesday says a 25 cent-per-minibottle tax will be replaced with a five percent tax on each drink. Exotic drinks frequently call for several minibottles of different liquor.

"The state has to look at a way to keep the money," said Tom Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina. The per-drink tax leaves fewer opportunities to cheat the system, he said. The state will continue to collect the more than $18 million it does now in drink taxes.

And bars and restaurants likely will save money and hassles, too. The legislation allows them to take delivery from suppliers instead of dispatching their bar and wait staff to pick up boxes of minibottles.

"Under current law, 3,000 restaurant employees have to drive to one of 58 liquor stores in the state to pick up and buy their product," Sponseller said. Delivery will save time and labor costs while cutting down on the liability that comes with so many people driving personal cars back and forth to liquor stores, Sponseller said.

Who supplies bars and restaurants has been the legislation's biggest obstacle. The 58 retailers now federally licensed to sell minibottles to bars and restaurants feared they'd be put out of business if the companies they buy from were allowed to compete for those customers.

"If you had someone trying to legislate you out of business, you would stand up, too," said John Kelsey of the South Carolina Wholesale Liquor Distributors Association.

The larger operations have exclusive rights with distillers to sell specific brands of liquor. "They have total control of each brand in the marketplace," Kelsey said.

But big liquor distributors and Kelsey's groups should be able to deliver to the hospitality industry, said Fred Allen, a lobbyist for Columbia-based Southern Wine and Spirits, which has operations around the state.

"Our customers want us to," Allen said. Larger concerns already have the ability to make deliveries, he said.

More distributors would spur competition, he said. "I would think that the hospitality industry wants a chance to see more competition so they have a chance to lower their costs," Allen said.

Sponseller says his members wanted both groups to be able to deliver and compete for business. But he'd rather have the bill clear the Legislature than have that detail slow it down.

"If that's what it takes to get this law passed, we can live with it," Sponseller said.

And the sooner, the better, he said.

Companies that want to help bars and restaurants make the change to free-pour liquor now are having to wait to see what the Legislature passes, Sponseller says.

A House subcommittee also began working on a version of the legislation Thursday. And it could take a month or more for the House and Senate to agree on the bill's final language.

After the legislation crosses Gov. Mark Sanford's desk, it will take time to implement. For instance, the state Revenue Department needs about three months to set up a system to collect a per-drink sales tax, agency spokesman Danny Brazell says.

While the Hospitality Association hoped the legislation would take effect in July, it's likely that's going to be pushed back to January, Sponseller said.

"We're going to miss a whole summer season. We're going to miss the fall golf season," Sponseller says.