# Describe your state's asinine liquor laws. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662 "2014-11-15T01:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/81 "2014-11-16T06:19:30Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > In Ohio, depending on local law, you get to vote on new alcohol sale permits. Liquor is regulated more tightly than beer and wine (I think the state restricts the number of liquor licenses based on the county’s population), and Sunday sales are a separate vote, so a new store that wants to sell beer/wine and liquor every day might be on the ballot four separate times. The State now allows private sales of distilled liquor? As a child, I lived in OH (and father was an alcoholic, but I didn’t figure that until later) - booze was sold only in “Package Stores” - each one operated by the State, and staffed by only State employees. Dad was big on a beer - Wiedemann by the case. Refrigerator space was at a premium. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/82 "2014-11-16T06:59:31Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The State now allows private sales of distilled liquor? Technically the stores are acting as agents of the state. The state still owns the booze and the retailer gets a commission. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/83 "2014-11-16T10:20:55Z")
Our county had two such issues on the ballot two weeks ago, one for a local supermarket applying for Sunday sales and another for a tiny corner restaurant doing the same. I can’t recall any of these ever failing (although in the parlance of the Prohibition era, this is definitely a “wet” area). ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/84 "2014-11-16T13:06:40Z")
In my state, no alcohol sales at all between 2am and 7am everyday. No alcohol sales at all prior to 1pm on Sunday. After 1pm, beer and wine may be sold at stores, but no liquor package sales all day Sunday. However, you can go to a bar starting at 10am on Sundays and buy drinks along with brunch. After 1pm, you can sit at a bar and buy beer, wine, or liquor by the drink. It’s silly to be at Buffalo Wild Wings on a Sunday just prior to NFL kickoff at 12:57pm and see 40 beers sitting at the wait staff service station ready for distribution. The clock strikes 1 and the whole staff starts passing out beers. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/85 "2014-11-16T13:43:34Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > In my state, no alcohol sales at all between 2am and 7am everyday. No alcohol sales at all prior to 1pm on Sunday. After 1pm, beer and wine may be sold at stores, but no liquor package sales all day Sunday. However, you can go to a bar starting at 10am on Sundays and buy drinks along with brunch. After 1pm, you can sit at a bar and buy beer, wine, or liquor by the drink. > > It’s silly to be at Buffalo Wild Wings on a Sunday just prior to NFL kickoff at 12:57pm and see 40 beers sitting at the wait staff service station ready for distribution. The clock strikes 1 and the whole staff starts passing out beers. Ohio isn’t THAT bad, but since I work night shift, Sundays can be particularly annoying here. You can buy beer starting at 6am on a Sunday, but you can’t buy wine until 10am. You also can’t buy hard cider, even if it’s the same or lower ABV as the previously mentioned beer (most of which I can’t drink), until after 10am. I once went to 3 different grocery stores (to see if the first one was making it up, because I couldn’t believe it) on a Sunday morning in three separate areas of Columbus–all refused to sell me a hard cider lower in alcohol content than the beer they were going to allow me to purchase. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/86 "2014-11-16T13:53:13Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > And just recently, we can buy booze on Sundays. [hijack]But not a car as my stepson found out last night as I had to explain blue laws to him because he really wanted to get a car today.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/87 "2014-11-16T14:03:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In Thailand, it’s illegal to buy alcohol from 2-5pm. That started about a decade ago. The idea is to keep it out of the hands of little schoolchildren, who are going home about that time. So are Thai children known for stopping by the bar and having a pint or two after school? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/88 "2014-11-16T15:41:23Z")
Society will be plunged into chaotic infamy if people pick up their six pack before noon for their Sunday cookout. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/89 "2014-11-16T16:28:07Z")
PA here and already covered. Although there is some sign that the State Store system could be privatized. A lot depends on the last election and how it gets along between the various branches. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/90 "2014-11-16T16:46:11Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > BAC has to do with body weight. A man of my size will not be .04 after only 2 drinks. > > At one time most states had limits of .10 and a few had .15. It was the feds who mandated .08 which is an arbitrary number in my opinion. > > Problem is, few “drunk drivers” are below .12. In my observation the impairment for most grown adults at .08 is miniscule. Real impairment doesn’t begin until .10. > > This, of course, is my observation and opinion after 32+ years of law enforcement. > > I don’t recall ever observing a vehicle being driven eratically where the driver was only .08. A .04 limit would be even more ridiculous. The majority of my DWI/OWI arrests involved people in excess of .15. In fact .22 is the number that pops up at most alcohol involved accidents. Don’t know what it is about that level. Another data point. Sweden has a .02 limit. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/91 "2014-11-16T17:36:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > a saloon on every second corner, massive drunkeness. Heh. Welcome to Wisconsin. People who visit are sometimes astonished how in the middle of a residential neighborhood there will be a tavern that someone made out of their house. And there are a lot of them like that. No other businesses, just peoples houses, but then every few will be a house that has a tavern instead of a living room. Wisconsin ranks as one of the states that has the most bars per capita in the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/92 "2014-11-16T18:29:01Z")
Oklahoma: The big one is that everything other than “non-intoxicating beer” has to be sold at room temperature in liquor store, which have to shut down by 9PM and can’t be open on Sundays. Non-intoxicating beer is defined as 3.2 Alcohol by Weight or lower, which is about 4.2 Alcohol by Volume. So you can buy watered down beer (though not by much for most beers) cold at grocery stores and gas stations and the like. There are drive through beer stores in the state. They can also carry mixers, ciders, and some other stuff that’s similar. Everything else must be sold in a liquor store. Which can’t sell anything else that isn’t alcoholic. No limes, no virgin margarita mix, no ice (though the major mix companies sell versions with just enough alcohol in them to get them on the store shelves, and some liquor stores will give you free limes!). Again, this has to be at room temperature. Some will be attached to a convenience store owned by the same person which sells the other stuff. Liquor by the drink is regulated by the county/city. Some places had it banned on Sunday as recently as 2010 (my college town finally got it available at that point). ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/93 "2014-11-16T18:54:55Z")
A couple of other oddities. I worked at a bar in Columbus, Ohio where they could only sell beer on Sundays. The bar across across the street offered full liquor service on Sunday. Had something to do with the type of liquor license. The place I worked basically considered themselves to be a craft and imported beer bar, so it wasn’t too big of a deal, but there were always a few customers who were surprised on Sundays. Indiana, at least this summer, still didn’t sell any alcohol on Sundays. I was driving from Columbus to Indianapolis and I remembered to buy beer in Dayton, OH before crossing into Indiana. Then had to chill it at my hotel in Indianapolis. I was able to buy a beer with my meal at the hotel restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/94 "2014-11-16T19:09:07Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > When I visited Arizona, my brother and I walked into a convenience store and found: > [ul] > [li]birth control/condoms[/li][li]porn (not just playboy, either)[/li][li]hard liquor[/li][li]bullets[/li][li]whipped cream[/li][li]coffee[/li][/ul] > > Which we thought sounded like the start of a fun weekend. Add live bait, a jacket in hunter’s orange and rental videos you are in a convenience store in rural Wisconsin. A few years ago the Minnesota legislature, in its infinite wisdom, thought raising the taxes on liquor to very high levels to be a good way to balance the budget. The vast majority of Minnesotans live a reasonable drive from the Wisconsin boarder, where liquor laws and taxes are both much more reasonable. Make it harder to buy booze here, and you will see your tax revenue for liquor go down, while we finance Wisconsin. (They backed down - the liquor lobby pointed out the proximity of Wisconsin). ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/95 "2014-11-16T19:12:06Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > So are Thai children known for stopping by the bar and having a pint or two after school? 😕 Have you been to Thailand? The not great neighborhoods have bars with strippers open to the street. Phuket is sort of like your local county fair with drugs and hookers. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/96 "2014-11-16T20:56:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And I believe it’s not so anymore, but where I grew up in West Texas, you could only buy drinks in bars and restaurants. If you wanted beer, wine or liquor for your home, all the liquor stores were in the county outside the town limits. So you had all these people, many of them already sloshed, driving _way_ out to go buy more. It was especially heavy traffic on weekend nights. It may not be true anymore where you grew up, but there are still places like this in Texas. It’s a side effect of the patchwork of counties/municipalities that allow different things.Alcohol sales are becoming more universally accepted here, but there are still dry islands surrounded by wet cities and counties. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/97 "2014-11-16T21:40:42Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > There are probably some exceptions out there, but no state in the U.S. that I’m aware of keeps it is as simple as it should be when it comes to selling beer/wine/liquor. _“Here, I have some booze to sell; you can buy it if you’re old enough”_ would be nice, but there’s always a catch or twelve, some weird set of rules that are arbitrary or archaic or rooted in influence peddling, and that make it less convenient (or more expensive) for people to buy alcohol. > > … Connecticut isn’t too bad. Take-home alcohol purchases end at 9pm (5pm Sunday); in bars/restaurants at 2AM. Beer can be bought in grocery stores, but everything else at a package store (also call liquor store, no official title). No limits _per se_, but when bought in bulk, a log entry is required to discourage illegal resale without a permit. I have a friend who lives in Pennsylvania. They have a strange limit that you can only buy a certain volume at one time (at a grocery store); however you can make you purchase, take it to your car, and make a second purchase, third purchase, etc. 😕 Further, at dedicated beer stores, they can only sell 24 packs! (I think wine/liquor is sold at yet a different store, but cannot remember). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/98 "2014-11-17T01:47:20Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Can’t help you - I live in California, where you can buy vodka at grocery and convenience stores at 6am on Sundays and there are microbreweries frakking everywhere. We can mail-order wine, too. The only restriction I can think of is a prohibition on real Everclear. You cant buy alcohol at a u-scan (self checkout). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/99 "2014-11-17T02:14:07Z")
I live in Nevada. The laws are: 1. No drinking in public unless specifically allowed (events and some places like the Las Vegas strip, which isn’t even in LV) 2. Hi. 3. Opal. Buy booze 24/7. In stores or bars, if they opt to stay open. I think maybe we can’t buy anything over 151 proof? 12% ABV beer? No problem. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662/100 "2014-11-17T02:28:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > …Anyway, most of the silly stuff is not existent here. Growing up, I had no idea there were grocery stores in other states that don’t sell alcohol. That must cut their profits massively. As has been explained, Texas is a patchwork of counties & cities with varying liquor laws. The Heights was a little town built on the trolley line for easy commuting into Houston. More than a century ago, the big city annexed the little one–on the condition that the Heights could remain dry. Now, as the area becomes more upscale, some restaurants get around the law by having “clubs”–easy to join, for free. However, all retail establishments remain dry. The Heights would love a nice, big grocery store with sections for healthy & imported food, befitting the neighborhood’s new status. Nope. No store is willing to make the investment and forego profitable beer & wine sales. Friends from California visited & we went to a Mexican “mercado.” Some gentlemen were standing on the sidewalk drinking beer. They were civilized fellows, probably hanging out while their wives shopped, not blocking traffic or anything. But one friend was _shocked_ at the open drinking–apparently you can’t do that in LA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-states-asinine-liquor-laws/704662.md?page=6)