A Jello shots question

My car’s trunk is accessible from the passenger compartment. I just need someone to pull down the seat and reach in and grab me a brew, and then stash it in the back when the cop shows up.

Sneaky little devil that’s illegal! :wink:

I just had to bring this up: it was none other than Tom Lehrer (Harvard-ed mathematician turned piano-man satirist, who returned to teaching math decades ago) who is credited with co-inventing the vodka Jello shot – in the 1950’s, when he was in the army, stationed at Los Alamos.

Oh, it makes a fellow proud to be a soldier…

According to Cal. Vehicle Code s23226:

It is unlawful for any driver or passenger to keep in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, when the vehicle is upon any highway or [while driving an off-road vehicle off road], any bottle, can or other receptacle containing any alcoholic beverage that has been opened, or a seal broken, or the contents of which have been partially removed.

Similarly, s23225 makes it illegal for the registered owner of any motor vehicle to allow the above desrcibed container to be kept in his vehicle, except for in the trunk.

So, if you want to be safe, put the shots in the trunk. I suspect tupperware would be considered an open container. If you want to get technical, you can argue that the shots are not an alcoholic beverage, and are thus not covered by the code. But do so at your own risk, as you may have to make it to the judge at your arraignment. FWIW.

Oh, and, not that you asked - CVC s23229 excepts the passengers of any bus, taxicab or limousine, and the living quarters of housecars and campers.

Spelling note: The leading brand of gelatin is spelled Jell-O.

I was talking to someone about something similar just recenly. He works in a fairly high-tone restaurant in town, where they serve expensive wines and such, and so he took a course (I think called an “ABC course”–maybe “Alcoholic Beverage Commission”?) on the actual laws in Tennessee. According to him, the only opened container you can transport in your car is a bottle of wine, and the cork must be in the bottleneck. Otherwise it must be in your trunk or somewhere that you can’t get to it.

But of course it varies from state to state. When I was a kid in Florida (mid-70s), they had drive-through liquor stores like the ones neutron star describes. You’d pull up and say, “I’ll have a gin-and-tonic,” and they’d give you a cup of ice with a lime wedge, a little bottle of tonic water, and one of those airplane bottles of gin. No open container of alcohol, and they’re legally covered.