Liquor laws. Whats up with that?

[bruteforce]

So, I've moved around a lot recently and the vastly different laws for alcohol are very strange to me. Now some of these may have changed recently, but as of the last time I was there

TN : No sales on Sunday. Because, you know, you can only drink on Sunday if you bought it on Sunday I guess.
CA: Free for all. yay!
IL: Pretty much like CA, but some weird stuff around happy hours and giving discounts.
NM: You can buy anything anywhere, but you can only have 3 beers at a brewery. I suppose it's to keep the DWI rates up and make everyone drive to one place after another.
KS: Nothing over 3.2% unless it's a liquor store. If it's a liquor store, only booze. You can't even sell mixers in the same store. So yeah, let's make it inconvenient I guess, but make sure there's a liquor store every 100 feet.
MO: Seems pretty normal, but there's probably something weird.
MI: I don't really remember, but I don't think I've been sober there yet.

 

[seagondollar]

3 beers at a brewery in NM is new to me. Must be loosely enforced. The liquor laws in certain states are absolutely stupid.

 

[Murphys_Law]

CO: We couldn't buy booze on Sunday until a few years ago. Grocery stores only carry "3.2" and you have to buy "full strength" beer, spirits and wine at the local liquor store. There has been a big fight between the various lobby groups so since the grocers couldn't sell full strength beer and wine, the liquor stores couldn't sell so much as a Slim Jim!

Also, an establishment can only have 1 license (e.g. a Costco near me has a liquor store so no other Costco in the state can sell liquor. It's a separate store/entrance from the main store and you don't have to be a Costco member).

This is going to change though but it's still somewhat convoluted. Grocery Stores can now have access to beer and wine and will be able to have up to 20 locations over a multi-year period (can't remember the time frame and too lazy to google!).

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I'm sure other states do too but in Tx I had dry counties near me, "not mine" and I think its so strict that you cant even drive through the county with alcohol, and I had too to get home so I lived in the country and I had to shop 2 counties over but if I bought alcohol at the store and drove home it was not legal lol

 

[treacheroustexan]

Indiana: All Sunday alcohol sales banned unless you're at a bar or brewery where the beer is brewed. So no liquor stores/gas stations/etc.

Ohio is very relaxed.

 

[TallDan]

IN in similar to TN with the Sunday sales:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Indiana

 

[bobeer]

Got to love FL on 40 oz's too...

FL: Wont sell 40's because they're gang related but sells 32's so you end up drinking 64oz instead of 40 because 32 oz's just doesn't cut it.

 

[TallDan]

State by state comparison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_the_United_States

 

[k1ngl1ves]

3 beers at a brewery in NM is new to me. Must be loosely enforced. The liquor laws in certain states are absolutely stupid.

Nowhere near a s bad as distribution laws. That's one hell of a racket they got going!

 

[JonM]

Wisconsin? Anything goes, pretty much. Sales 7 days a week, some counties say 9:00 pm is when sales stop for the day. Kids can be in bars or liquor stores and, if with a parent or guardian, a kid can even be served. First offense DUI is a civil forfeiture (I.e., not a crime). Liquor depts don't have to be isolated from the rest of the grocery store. They can hand out samples of beer, wine and liquor - yes, free samples of 80 proof liquor in the grocery store. I could go on.

 

[schatzke]

MT 3 beer limit in a tasting room, tasting rooms only allowed to be open for limited hours(close @8). Beer for sale everywhere from Target to gas stations. Booze in liquor stores only.

 

[Upthewazzu]

WA is an anything goes state as far as I'm aware.

Now PA on the other hand. Good Lord it's almost impossible to buy booze there.

 

[catdaddy66]

SC has recently allowed Sunday beer/wine sales in the last ten years after they relaxed the 'blue laws' on the books. Still no liquor sales on Sunday though. Liquor is sold 9am to 7pm Mon-Sat and has to be a separate room or building vs beer/wine.

No dry counties in our state though...!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

NY is over the top with every law...except beer.
Bars stay open till 4 AM beer sold in every gas station, 7-11, deli, Pizza place...pretty much everywhere and can be bought anytime on any day.
If you need to drive more than 10 minutes to buy beer at 3 AM on a Tuesday your driving to far

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

State by state comparison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_the_United_States

^^ Correct for Minnesota.
I will add that we try to change this law every year to allow for Sunday sales. Believe it or not its the big liquor stores that lobby and prevent the law from changing - they don't want to pay anyone to work on Sundays, and feel they wont have any extra sales because we all buy it on Saturday.

 

[JGF]

Wisconsin? Anything goes, pretty much. Sales 7 days a week, some counties say 9:00 pm is when sales stop for the day. Kids can be in bars or liquor stores and, if with a parent or guardian, a kid can even be served. First offense DUI is a civil forfeiture (I.e., not a crime). Liquor depts don't have to be isolated from the rest of the grocery store. They can hand out samples of beer, wine and liquor - yes, free samples of 80 proof liquor in the grocery store. I could go on.

Ain't Wisconsin great!

The worst, by far, was Oklahoma. Only liquor stores can sell real (non 3.2) beer and they can't serve it chilled as God forbid someone want to drink a beer sooner than it takes to cool it down. Really odd distribution and brew pub rules as well.

Pennsylvania has (had?) about the oddest laws. Have to buy beer from either a beer distributor by the case or from a bar by the 6 pack.

 

[Homercidal]

MI had Sunday law until fairly recently. Now it's a county(?) decision. Even on Sunday, you could buy after Noon, before the law changed.

Now you can go out and get your NFL Survival needs well before the games start! \o/

 

[Maylar]

^^ Correct for Minnesota.
I will add that we try to change this law every year to allow for Sunday sales. Believe it or not its the big liquor stores that lobby and prevent the law from changing - they don't want to pay anyone to work on Sundays, and feel they wont have any extra sales because we all buy it on Saturday.

Connecticut changed the hours and allowed Sunday sales recently, and I think it was the big stores that lobbied for it. Most of our liquor stores are small mom/pop outfits and they wanted that one day a week off.

 

[Auger]

Up until the past 2ish years, in CT all packaged alcohol sales stopped at 8pm and nothing on Sundays. They just opened it up to sales on Sunday, and I think they stretched the hours to 9 pm (woohoo!), and now even allow it from 12-5 on federal holidays (Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc). Freaking puritans.

 

[tzaccario]

NY was great, Beer everywhere. I now live in NJ and have to go to a Liquor store to get beer, with the exception of certain large shoprites, and other stores which have found ways around it. I believe some things change depending on which county you live in, just like everything else out here.. Rules change by the mile lol

 

[dsniegocki]

SC has recently allowed Sunday beer/wine sales in the last ten years after they relaxed the 'blue laws' on the books. Still no liquor sales on Sunday though. Liquor is sold 9am to 7pm Mon-Sat and has to be a separate room or building vs beer/wine.

No dry counties in our state though...!

Don't forget what had to be possibly the stupidest law ever... up until 10 years ago, in SC, all liquor in bars had to be poured from mini-bottles. You would walk into a bar and the wall was literally lined with them. A single Long Island Iced Tea was effectively required by law to contain almost 7oz of booze.

 

[catdaddy66]

Don't forget what had to be possibly the stupidest law ever... up until 10 years ago, in SC, all liquor in bars had to be poured from mini-bottles. You would walk into a bar and the wall was literally lined with them. A single Long Island Iced Tea was effectively required by law to contain almost 7oz of booze.

Yeah, they said it was to make sure patrons weren't getting gipped in the days of free pour. Each mini bottle had 1.75 ozs, almost enough for two drinks!

At one point it was Utah and SC with the only laws requiring mini bottles.

 

[Homercidal]

What ever happened to the good old days when, if you were shorted on the booze, you just poured it out on the floor and walked out??

 

[bob1852]

Arizona used to ban sales before 10am on Sunday (so you weren't drinking in church, I guess?), but two things happened....1) NFL football games start at 10am in AZ, and bars couldn't serve anything before kickoff, and 2) night shift professions (especially nurses) protested because 6am on Sunday is their Friday night.

Pretty good laws here now related to booze.....you can thank a former HBT moderator for some of the recent positive changes....

 

[Paps]

Indiana: All Sunday alcohol sales banned unless you're at a bar or brewery where the beer is brewed. So no liquor stores/gas stations/etc..

That only applies to "carry out/take home" sales
Restaraunts that serve alcohol can still sell you it on sundays.

IMHO all alcohol laws are BS
Free men don't need permission from government.
Follow the NAP
No victim, no crime.

 

[McGarnigle]

So, I've moved around a lot recently and the vastly different laws for alcohol are very strange to me. Now some of these may have changed recently, but as of the last time I was there

TN : No sales on Sunday. Because, you know, you can only drink on Sunday if you bought it on Sunday I guess.
CA: Free for all. yay!

Woah, alcohol in California is free for everyone?! There must be a catch.

 

[bruteforce]

Woah, alcohol in California is free for everyone?! There must be a catch.

I mean, I assume so. Why else would the taxes be so high?

 

[PADave]

Pennsylvania has (had?) about the oddest laws. Have to buy beer from either a beer distributor by the case or from a bar by the 6 pack.

PA did have some really messed up laws that encouraged binge drinking, like only being able to buy a case, no less, from a distributor. They are changing, now you can buy 6 and 12 packs in grocery stores, and even 12 packs at the distributors. Some state stores, (liquor and wine stores which are all run by the state) are open Sundays now. Was basically a follow the money situation, the beer distributors didn't want to loose control of being the only place to buy beer, so they paid off the politicians to not change the laws. Slowly loosing their grip.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I live in Missouri and you can buy anything in any store, comer convenience store, walmart, any grocery store, any day any time, wine, beer, liqueur

 

[meatcleaver]

I'm sure other states do too but in Tx I had dry counties near me, "not mine" and I think its so strict that you cant even drive through the county with alcohol, and I had too to get home so I lived in the country and I had to shop 2 counties over but if I bought alcohol at the store and drove home it was not legal lol

I live in one of those counties! it was dry until about 2 years ago when the county seat finally made beer sales legal in the city limits. you could always get served alcohol at a bar or restaurant but had to drive 15-20 miles one way to buy beer or liquor. you still have to drive to the county line to buy a bottle of liquor.
& as for transporting booze before the county went wet...you were allowed so many cases per legal adult before it was considered bootlegging. when i was a teen there were certain houses you could visit in town & buy a bootleg 40oz for a few bucks!

 

[Decimotox]

I live in Missouri and you can buy anything in any store, comer convenience store, walmart, any grocery store, any day any time, wine, beer, liqueur

Loved it when I was down there. Went to college outside of St. Louis. We even bought liquor at like 1 am in Illinois (grocery store). I like that part of the country lol.

Now that I live in MN, I have to make sure I'm set for football Sundays by Saturday. Only once have I had to go to a grocery store to buy some 3.2% beer on a Sunday, since that's all you can get on Sundays.

 

[pdxal]

When I lived in East Texas, Jasper to be exact, about 20 years ago it was a dry county. There were liquor stores feet from the county line on all roads out of the county selling to everyone from the "dry" county. They allowed alcohol in private clubs, so restaurants would allow you to join their "club" for a couple of bucks/year and you could have a beer with your meal(s).
Pennsylvania was wacky as previously mentioned.
Thankfully I live in Oregon where the weirdest law is that liquor is only sold in state-owned liquor stores or about a half dozen private stores selling as an experiment statewide.

 

[ImNoExpert]

I blame the constitution for the discrepancies.

 

[btbnl]

Until it all got straightened out a few years back, the UK Sunday trading laws were piecemeal to the point that you could buy carpet by the meter but not by the yard, and pornography but not the bible.

 

[BentBrewer]

CA: Free for all. yay!

Couple of gotchas, for breweries at least:
(Disclaimer: This is from a lecture over a year ago, so I might be fuzzy on exact details.)

Breweries can't donate product. They can sell at a loss, but no free beer.

Breweries cannot deliver product between 7PM Saturday to 9AM Monday. Product can still be picked up at the brewery however. :smack:

On a Type23 license (brewery only, no food served) No outside alcohol allowed. Meaning I can't even allow someone to bring me a bottle of homebrew to taste without breaking the law. (And of course, no bottles of bourbon in the desk drawer.)

 

[petemoss]

Alabama: You can buy beer and wine pretty much everywhere except only after Noon on Sundays. Liquor has to be bought from a liquor store.

There are some dry counties left I believe where everything is off limits. I remember as a kid, we lived in Walker county for a while and my folks would have to make runs to the county line. Eventually, they made Jasper (the main city in Walker County) wet, so folks didn't have to do that any longer. Seems odd having a dry county with a wet city inside of it.

 

[Phunhog]

Couple of gotchas, for breweries at least:
(Disclaimer: This is from a lecture over a year ago, so I might be fuzzy on exact details.)

Breweries can't donate product. They can sell at a loss, but no free beer.

Breweries cannot deliver product between 7PM Saturday to 9AM Monday. Product can still be picked up at the brewery however. :smack:

On a Type23 license (brewery only, no food served) No outside alcohol allowed. Meaning I can't even allow someone to bring me a bottle of homebrew to taste without breaking the law. (And of course, no bottles of bourbon in the desk drawer.)

Guess you didn't hear about the law change. Beginning Jan 1st, 2017 it will be legal to bring your homebrew into any establishment that has a liquor license.

 

[Roland_deschain]

Wisconsin? Anything goes, pretty much. Sales 7 days a week, some counties say 9:00 pm is when sales stop for the day. Kids can be in bars or liquor stores and, if with a parent or guardian, a kid can even be served. First offense DUI is a civil forfeiture (I.e., not a crime). Liquor depts don't have to be isolated from the rest of the grocery store. They can hand out samples of beer, wine and liquor - yes, free samples of 80 proof liquor in the grocery store. I could go on.

https://youtu.be/7WlwumGkSec

Lewis Black explains it all on drinking in Wisconsin.

 

[eigua]

CA: Free for all. yay!

We can't buy alcohol in a store or bar or even drink it in an establishment after 2 AM. We also have restrictions on max ABV, no drinking in public places or in parks for the most part (even though everyone does it), and a lot of other rules.

-------------

Source: https://www.abc.ca.gov/questions/enforcement_faq1.html

Q. 84. What are the lawful hours for retail sale of alcoholic beverages?

A. From 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. of the following day. In other words, it is unlawful to sell alcoholic beverages either by the drink or by the package, between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. of the same day.
It is also unlawful for any person to knowingly purchase any alcoholic beverages between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (Section 25631)

Q. 86. May an on-sale licensee stack drinks or sell and serve drinks a few minutes before 2 a.m. and permit patrons to remain on the premises consuming alcoholic beverages after that hour?

A. No. It is a misdemeanor for any retail licensee or employee of the licensee to permit any person, including himself, to consume alcoholic beverages on the licensed premises between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. of the same day. (Section 25632)

 

[BentBrewer]

Guess you didn't hear about the law change. Beginning Jan 1st, 2017 it will be legal to bring your homebrew into any establishment that has a liquor license.

Actually, as of last week, having heard of changes, I'd been told..... nothing changed.

I'll check into it.