Your State's Liquor Laws

[acorgihouse]

Oh Florida! I recently read a piece about this, as it was going through some of the new laws beginning July 1. Some of the details are left to the counties, in my county (Hillsborough/Tampa) they are probably more liberal than smaller areas. I guess. I can get alcohol just about any time I elect to leave the house, beer and wine are in grocery stores (and other places. I recently needed sweet vermouth for a recipe, and picked it up while in Walgreens.) Spirits are in liquor stores, retail, I'm not aware of any state run stores. Officially, I think you can buy/sell from 7am to midnight, although most liquor stores are not open that early. Even on Sunday. I've learned, if I go to Costco on Sunday morning, the checkout lines will be lengthy around 10-1045am, because of all the people with wine waiting for 11am when they start selling it. The beer they just have stacked in back, next to the paper towels and toilet paper. My neighbor kid works at Winn Dixie down the street, which has a satellite liquor store next door. From him, I learned that you can't drink, or mix a drink, under 21, but you can sell it or serve it over 18? Some of the beaches allow alcohol, but not in glass, so you see beer for sale in plastic bottles in the nearby stores. I can get liquor delivery from almost anywhere, from Total Wine to Costco, or do curbside pickup. It's a far cry from where I grew up in Tennessee, where they hung black curtains over the beer case in grocery stores on Sunday, likely still do.

[johnec00]

Not near as weird as Orange County. In the county, bars and restaurants can serve alcohol between 11am and 1:59:59 am. In Orlando (completely contained within Orange County), You can grab a brew (or other alcoholic beverage) between 7am and 11:59:59am. (9am on Sunday). Orange County has an exception, golf courses can serve between 7am and sunset.

[Michael_in_TX]

jerrybell mentioned the Zion Curtain and, as I had never heard of such I thing, googled it as he suggested. WTH?!

Here's an excellent NPR article on it and when it was adjusted in 2017: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ht-liquor-laws



I mean, this is what it used to be like going to a bar in Utah?



I simply had no idea. Utah, you win this thread.

[Willy]

Er, ComfortablyNumb ...it was a ZION Curtain, emphasis on Zion. ;<)

[jfmorris]

Here in Alabama, we have "state stores" and sadly those are going to be the cheapest spot for alcohol, which isn't saying much, as almost all booze will be 30-40% less if you drive across the state line in any direction. There are independently owned package stores, but they have to sell for an even higher prices, as it all goes through the state stores and 3 tier distribution system first.

I remember when one of the local breweries (owned by a friend) opened up and was selling the beers in their tap room for maybe $3-4 a pint, that cost $5-7 anywhere else in town, due to the 3 tier system that prevents direct sales from the brewery to the bars and restaurants. The other restaurants and bars in town threatened to stop carrying their beer if they undercut them like that in their own tap room, and he was forced to raise all his pint prices to $5-6, even though no distributor was involved at that point. More money in his pocket I guess, but still kinda stupid.

We also have dry counties and/or municipalities in Alabama, where no alcohol sales are permitted, whatsoever (beer, wine or liquor). I think its becoming fewer and fewer, but I can still think of several neighboring counties to where I live that are dry.

[shify]

In New York, beer, hard seltzer and malt beverages are sold pretty much everyone, grocery stores, gas stations, bodegas, etc.

Wine and liquor is only sold in liquor stores. The weird thing is that liquor stores cannot sell any non-wine/liquor food or drinks (besides plain water). Practically what that means is you can't buy your mixers or bitters at the same place you buy your liquor. Want to make a manhattan? Head to the liquor store to buy rye and sweet vermouth and then to the grocery store to buy angostura bitters and Luxardo cherries. It is odd seeing all the variety of bitters sold at supermarkets when the related alcohol is not available.

We used to have blue laws in NY that didn't allow stores to sell beer before 10am on Sundays or serve alcohol at brunch before noon but those were repealed (only impacted me if I was going to go tailgating at a Giants game and forgot to plan properly). I think beer can be sold at any time and restaurants can start serving at 10am on Sundays. There was also a blue law restricting when liquor stores could open on Sunday (i think not before noon) and there used to be a rule about how many days they could be open each week - think it changed as part of the revised/repealed blue laws - something like they had to be closed at least one day a week but don't recall the exact details

It was also illegal for restaurants to sell alcohol to-go. That was at least partially relaxed during COVID but think it might have been re-instated after liquor store lobbyists had it killed

[fillirican]

Here in Vegas, big surprise, the alcohol flows freely. My local Smith's grocery store also has a full bar next to the bakery section hahaha.

[RichieB]

Massachusetts, 7 days a week with no restrictions other Sunday 10 A.M. rule. Liquor stores, some grocery stores, convenient and gas stations. Access never an issue.

[surfdog]

Here in California it’s 6AM - 2AM 7 days a week. Grocery stores, liquor stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, gas stations, department stores like Target & Walmart…pretty much anywhere. Some places have much better selections obviously…but the basics are everywhere. Prices also vary as one might expect.

[Santamarina]

Facts! California regulates the heck out of just about everything except alcohol - and I didn’t appreciate that as much before reading all the posts here. As long as it’s not between 2am-6am you can buy any alcohol from just about anywhere!

[surfdog]

Santamarina Oh yeah, as someone that travels a great deal…I’ve noticed it. And also appreciate how easy it is in CA to simplify pop down the street to pickup just about anything. Imagine my surprise the first time I got stuck in some of the other places and just wanted a drink while I watched a game or something. TotalWine et al closed on a Sunday?! Sheesh.