State alcohol laws

henapple

The what are you drinking thread got me thinking about the weird laws...

Tennessee
Grocery stores sell only beer
Liquor stores sell only liquor and wine
Liquor stores can't sell cokes, limes, etc..
Can't sell beer before 6am or 10 on sun
Liquor store closed on Sunday

I travel all over and see some weird shiznit... What's yours?

nolaegghead

Can't speak for the rest of Louisiana, but in Orleans Parish, there are no rules. 

You can buy hard liquor at 3AM at a day care center.  Grocery stores, mini marts, convenience stores all carry the hard stuff (if they have a liquor license).

I remember when you could legally drink and drive.  Then just the passenger.   Then no open containers.

However, on the street, you can openly drink, just can't be in glass.  Hence the "Go Cup".  Everyone's got 'em.  You transfer whatever poison you're drinking into the Go Cup and hit the street.  Slugging cheap vodka out of a plastic handle in front of the police station is completely legal.

MJG

The "Blue Laws" that we have/had here in Massachusetts are crazy. It took a Mormon governor for us to have Sunday liquor sales. In some towns you still can't order a drink without any food. A town I used to live in would not allow anyone to consume alcohol, in a bar or restaurant, while standing!

travisstrick

LA has the best. 

TX is easy going except on sunday. 

FL is somewhere in the middle. 

henapple

Indiana.. Can't buy cold beer at a convenient mart...

Half of Kentucky is dry as is Lynburg... Home of jack d.

Tjcoley

Pennsylvania - Liquor and wine only from State run store.

Small wineries can sell wine from a kiosk in the mall, or within another store

Beer only from a beer distributer, and only by the case

Beer - limit 2 six packs - from a bar

Some grocery stores (very limited) now selling beer - separate section of the store

Local grocery store (Wegman's) tried a wine vending machine that didn't work

Big push on in the state to privatize alcohol

Most liquor stores (except for large ones) closed Sunday

Beer distributer closed Sunday

nolaegghead

TX, as I recall, you can't buy any alcohol after midnight except on weekend it was extended.  No booze on Sundays, hard stuff only in liquor stores.  Wine beer in other stores, no 3.2 bullsh!t laws like MN.  Bars cut you off at 2AM.  None of that here in nola.

BuckeyeBob

Illinois, pretty much good to go whenever. And lots of private competition so prices are cheap. My Grandfather used to drive to Illinois from Pennsylvania to visit my Aunt, even though he could fly for free because the alcohol prices were so low. He would stock up. Funny story is that in his later years, he had to stop drinking due to illness but he still would stock up every trip. When he died, we found multiple cases of unopened bottles of whiskey, scotch, bourbon, etc. in his house. He just couldn't pass up a bargain.

henapple

For some time restaurants could serve but no alcohol sold in stores. On the outskirts of town there was warehouses with 5 drive through bays... Looked like Vegas at night.

Lubbock Texas

Tjcoley

I actually live in a 'Dry" community - no bars, restaurants are BYOB only and charge a 'corking' fee. Fortunately, the town line is at the end of my street, and there is a great sports bar about 3 blocks away, in the next town.

One restaurant in town used to have a "Free Beer or Sangria" Saturday with lunch.  As long as they didn't change their prices for the food, they were allowed to give the beer away.  

CPARKTX

I grew up in Louisiana where there are pretty much no laws; moving to other parts of the country was a shock.

Texas has some strange blue laws still, and you'll run into dry and semi-dry counties in unexpected places, like parts of the DFW metroplex.

lousubcap

What follows in no way is very accurate but reflects the limits that contribute (along with my consumption) to my buying habits:  Land of Kentucky Jelly-I live in a dry (except restaurants and that benefit was recent) county.  I live around 6 miles from a wet county where you can buy beer in convenience and grocery stores and everything in individually owned (or chain store) package stores.  Sundays-no juice before 11 AM.  So run your liquor locker like a well managed warehouse-establish minimum refill points and never worry about hitting the low-level alarm.  Being a former sailor I can work within the constraints-the local full-up beverage store does get some of the rarified bourbon on occasion and with a healthy account comes purchasing power!

travisstrick

nolaegghead said:

TX, as I recall, you can't buy any alcohol after midnight except on weekend it was extended.  No booze on Sundays, hard stuff only in liquor stores.  Wine beer in other stores, no 3.2 bullsh!t laws like MN.  Bars cut you off at 2AM.  None of that here in nola.

LA it aint but I can buy a 64oz Pina Colada with 10 extra shots at a drive through right near my house. It comes in a giant styrofoam cup with a straw. Say what you will, TX is alright in my book. 

Botch

MJG said:

It took a Mormon governor for us to have Sunday liquor sales. 

Heh, now for some examples of what mormons do when they're in the majority.  I guess the good news is that, bit by bit, the laws get less draconian as time goes by (I've lived here since '95).

 

Utard has very strict limits on the number of licenses, both for bars and restaurants, and many major restaurant chains won't come here because they can't be guaranteed a license.  Just recently a businessman with "friends" managed to get the legislature to grant one more license, to him, but the only way they would agree was to also hire 3 more undercover cops, whose sole job is to go into restaurants and try to order a drink without ordering food.  $500 fine first offense, $3000 second, etc.  At least they nixed the law that a food order had to be already placed before the customer could even see the drink menu.

 

The Zion Curtain:  Some mormons were offended that, in certain restaurants, their children could witness a bartender mixing a drink.  Walls are now required between the dining area and the bartender's area.

 

"Bootlegging":  It was discovered two years ago the UHP were stationing unmarked cars in the parking lots of liquor stores just across the border in Idaho and Wyoming, and any time they saw a car with a utard plate buying booze, they'd radio the license number ahead to UHP cars just inside the border, they'd get pulled over, the booze poured on the ground and the car's owner fined for bootlegging.  When I first moved here they also patrolled the airport, and if anyone brought in a case of wine, or even one bottle, from their visit to, say, Napa, it was confiscated, poured out, and again the owner fined for bootlegging.  Fortunately, these practices have been rescinded.  

 

"Stripper Cards":  In utard county, anyone who works in any establishment that sells alcohol, has to fill out a form, pay a fee, get their photo taken, and an ID card is given to them, which must be presented any time you're in that establishment.  I'm a former musician and had to get one to play in a club in that county; still have it.  Oh yeah, all employees serving alcohol must wear nametags too, its a hefty fine if you're not wearing yours (I think that one's state-wide, not sure).  

 

State-owned and -run liquor stores.  They are required to be built on side streets, not main thoroughfares (although that one's sometimes ignored).  Taxes are much higher, a microbrew that you'd pay $8 for, I get to pay $10.  I've tried to special-order particular wines through those stores, paying all their stupid fees, but I've been turned down both times, with no reason given.  

 

 

As I said before, slowly but surely they're getting less restrictive, but it's still infuriating sometimes.  Odd that my team-mates in Munitions are still dropping bombs on those who would force their religious beliefs on others in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, yet we still tolerate it here at home...

 

(hope I didn't get too political here...)

TurtleCreek

MARYLAND has stores that sell all types of alcohol & tobacco... Beer Wine Liquor Cig's.  My county (Calvert) sells beer 7 days a week.  Many liquor stores that have the room at the end of the building, have drive thru windows.  You just pull up to it and tell them what you want.  

No sales in our grocery stores unless specially permitted ... and there are very, very few of those.  Mostly just mom & pop country stores have this.

Eggcelsior

Maryland is sweet. I can buy whatever I want 7 days a week. All locally owned stores, no ABC BS. Not many grocery stores but that's not a big deal since a liquor store is usually within walking distance of the grocer. We do have an open container law but it's basically "act like a douchebag and you'll get treated like one" so those April shower fresh dudes get what they deserve.

My only regret is that Costco can't carry alcohol in Maryland. I get my fix on liquor in SC(can't beat 1.75L for the price of a fifth) or when I hit up a Virginia location. The land of pleasant living indeed!

nolaegghead

More wars were fought over who's magician that explained where the sun goes at night is better.  All the power to believing in whatever code you're told to follow - I strongly believe in that right.  But when you try to tell ME what I can and can't do - you're no better than any of the radical groups pushing Sharia-like law. Common sense stuff like having limits on blood alcohol while driving a 4000 pound projectile are fine in my book.  Telling businesses they have to have a wall so someone's kid doesn't see a bartender mixing a drink - that's insidious domestic terrorism against my right to get drunk.

travisstrick

nolaegghead said:

More wars were fought over who's magician that explained where the sun goes at night is better.  All the power to believing in whatever code you're told to follow - I strongly believe in that right.  But when you try to tell ME what I can and can't do - you're no better than any of the radical groups pushing Sharia-like law. Common sense stuff like having limits on blood alcohol while driving a 4000 pound projectile are fine in my book.  Telling businesses they have to have a wall so someone's kid doesn't see a bartender mixing a drink - that's insidious domestic terrorism against my right to get drunk.

AGREE AGREE AGREE AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nolaegghead

travisstrick said:

nolaegghead said:

TX, as I recall, you can't buy any alcohol after midnight except on weekend it was extended.  No booze on Sundays, hard stuff only in liquor stores.  Wine beer in other stores, no 3.2 bullsh!t laws like MN.  Bars cut you off at 2AM.  None of that here in nola.

LA it aint but I can buy a 64oz Pina Colada with 10 extra shots at a drive through right near my house. It comes in a giant styrofoam cup with a straw. Say what you will, TX is alright in my book. 

Not knocking TX, just stating the stuff I've noticed there.  My point is we shouldn't accept and try to live with and around stupid laws like this. Fight em.  Prohibition didn't work - bible thumpers want this kind of power over everyone.  We founded this country to get away from this exact kind of carp.

jaydub58

Oregon. Oregon Liquor Control Commission, with heavy emphasis on CONTROL is written into the state Constitution.

Some liquor stores (which is our only source of hard stuff) are owned and run by the state, some are owned by private individuals, but the state tells them everything from prices to inventory to business hours.  It has been just in the last 3 or so years, that they were allowed to open on Sunday. Beer and wine are grocery store business, but late-night sales are strictly controlled.

Eggcelsior

I love you @nolaegghead. Can we go on Wife swap to see how each other ticks from the "other side"?

Foghorn

One of the funniest things I've ever seen was in Miami when a Pakistani convenience store clerk with a thick accent tried to explain to a Cuban who spoke no English that he couldn't buy a beer because it was Sunday morning and he couldn't sell beer until noon. It was like a scene from The Simpsons.

kolbdriver

In Arkansas you can buy beer and wine almost anywhere.. Liquor at a liquor store till 2 am and not on Sunday.... You can buy really good moonshine most anywhere at anytime , if you know where to go.... .

nolaegghead

Foghorn said:

One of the funniest things I've ever seen was in Miami when a Pakistani convenience store clerk with a thick accent tried to explain to a Cuban who spoke no English that he couldn't buy a beer because it was Sunday morning and he couldn't sell beer until noon. It was like a scene from The Simpsons.

Funny.....the Cuban, probably hopped back on an inner-tube and sailed back the next day.

henapple

kolbdriver said:

In Arkansas you can buy beer and wine almost anywhere.. Liquor at a liquor store till 2 am and not on Sunday....

You can buy really good moonshine most anywhere at anytime , if you know where to go....





.

A part of Little Rock is dry...

@nolaegghead.. Prohibition was really started by women.... Stupid broads.

cortguitarman

PA's laws are awful. Recently allowed some beer distributors to sell on Sundays. Sheets convenience stores are actually leading a big push to change the laws and allow convenience stores to sell beer.

I travel to Maryland quite often and love the one stop shopping. When I lived in VA I didn't mind their laws. In VA grocery stores and convenience stores could sell beer and wine. Liquor stores sold hard stuff but were open 7 days a week. ABC stores were always within a mile of the grocery stores.

Botch

Foghorn said:

One of the funniest things I've ever seen was in Miami when a Pakistani convenience store clerk with a thick accent tried to explain to a Cuban who spoke no English that he couldn't buy a beer because it was Sunday morning and he couldn't sell beer until noon.

You reminded me of another utard gem:  You can order a beer with your lunch at 11:00 am.  If you want a glass of wine, you have to wait until 12:00 ....   $-)

nolaegghead

Same age ol' story.  @henapple  Initially, by the pious broads then taken over by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Saloon_League  Basically rural protestants.  Catholics were mostly "wet" and considered it blaspheme.   New Orleans is really the only large American city that's predominantly catholic.  Might explain the lax alcohol laws. 

I was brought up catholic.  Church and catechism brain-washing every Sunday.  Then we moved to Germany,  7 years, back to US.  When I hit 15, told my parents what I thought about all of it.  Guess it was like a slap in the face, none of us ever went back to church.  Ever except weddings and funerals.  Never even really thought about religion except when it's behind annoying blue laws and the various wars and skirmishes breaking out all over the world.  Another way to wield power.

Anyway, don't nobody be a hater because I don't worship anything.  'Cept good BBQ and good times.

Springram

The United States of America -- Home of the Brave but..not always the land of the free. Most all of the liquor laws are just plain nonsensical. Did I spell that word right?

Springram

Spring, Texas

henapple

People pervert and screw up bbq... I merely do it my way... Just like my faith. That being said, I respect everyone's beliefs and opinions. Church hates me... No one understands me.

Foghorn

henapple said:

People pervert and screw up bbq... I merely do it my way... Just like my faith. That being said, I respect everyone's beliefs and opinions. Church hates me... No one understands me.

Is that why you try to buy our friendship with Ozark Oak?