# Dry Counties (Booze fee) in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714 "2012-03-24T21:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/41 "2012-03-26T03:34:26Z")
I was always warned not to buy too much at the country line store. I never researched it twenty-five years ago. The internet didn’t even exist. I had no need for 8 cases of beer anyway. I usually bought two or three six packs and went back to my rental house in Camden. Which at that time was in a dry county. I got the same warning for buying alcohol in Louisiana. We could go to Louisiana and legally drink at 18 in the late 70’s. Arkansas was still 21. But, bringing booze into Arkansas by an 18 year old was illegal. The state line liquor stores were notorious for calling the cops on people and they’d be waiting on the highway as you drove into Arkansas. We did often bring back a six pack from a town where I had relatives, but nothing major. > [@Odesio](#): > > I live in Arkansas (I used to live in dry Grant County) and I’ve never heard of police arresting someone for transporting alcohol within state lines. Do you have a cite for this? So far as I know, there is no county in Arkansas where it is illegal to possess alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/42 "2012-03-26T04:18:54Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > on the downside, you live in California. No tornadoes, no hurricanes, no blizzards, winter gets down to about 40F, no bullshit laws about buying booze. Tell me again the downside here, I’m missing it. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/43 "2012-03-26T05:09:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I got the same warning for buying alcohol in Louisiana. We could go to Louisiana and legally drink at 18 in the late 70’s. Arkansas was still 21. But, bringing booze into Arkansas by an 18 year old was illegal. The state line liquor stores were notorious for calling the cops on people and they’d be waiting on the highway as you drove into Arkansas. We did often bring back a six pack from a town where I had relatives, but nothing major. Crossing state lines is a completely different situation though. It was illegal in Arkansas for you to possess alcohol even if you purchased it legally in Louisiana. To the best of my knowledge, it was never illegal in Arkansas to bring alcohol into a dry county that you had purchased legally in a wet county. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/44 "2012-03-26T05:11:00Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > No tornadoes, no hurricanes, no blizzards, winter gets down to about 40F, no bullshit laws about buying booze. > Tell me again the downside here, I’m missing it. 😕 Earthquakes, mudslides, sinkholes, droughts and a dysfunctional state government. Compared to that, a dry county seems like a welcome problem. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/45 "2012-03-26T05:32:52Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Mississippi was a dry state until 1966. Ironically _Utah_ was the state gave the 21st Amendment the 3/4 majority it needed to pass. I can’t swear to it, but I’m fairly certain that the Mississippi prohibition law allowed counties and/or municipalities to vote themselves wet, or “out from under” the prohibition law. It’s somewhat unusual because usually local option laws work in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/46 "2012-03-26T05:38:52Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Is it actually illegal to bring in alcohol for personal or family use, or is it just that cops generally let small amounts slide and only bother to bust when it’s a significant amount? This sort of thing varies, at least with the situation in Alaska that **Chefguy** mentioned. Once a locality decides to embark on a more restrictive alcohol policy, it can go anywhere from varies degrees of “dampness” to bone dry. A damp community might allow you to buy a certain amount of alcohol based on an individual licensing system, or it might let you import and possess a stated maximum amount purchased elsewhere. A totally dry community might totally ban alcohol, like illegal drugs. These laws change periodically; I once checked the website of Barrow and found it was bone dry, but on looking at it again a couple of years later, it had gone back to damp. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/47 "2012-03-26T12:04:11Z")
In Dallas proper, it was possible to buy alcohol in a wet precinct and carry it into or across a dry precinct but the allowable quantity was regulated by law, IIRC and I think I do. I don’t remember what the quantities were but they were pretty low. I mean, a certain amount of beer or wine or hard stuff but no more than the law allowed. ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/48 "2012-03-26T15:48:00Z")
I live near Little Rock in Saline county. We are a dry county, but several restaurants now serve alcohol as part of a private club. Basically it comes down to the fact that if you are a decent restaurant (usually a chain), you can serve alcohol if you pay enough and jump through the right hoops. The dry county rules are only for those too poor to go drinking at restaurant prices. It’s dumb, but what can you expect? Those who are connected will do as they please, those who aren’t have to follow the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/49 "2012-03-26T16:29:45Z")
“Dry” areas are weird, and cause really odd behavior. The little backwater I grew up in was wet (in several senses), but the fundies in the town up the road managed to band together long enough to take it dry. On Sundays, they’d have church services and congratulate themselves on their righteous victory. Then, when church let out, a huge cavalcade would roll down the highway to my hometown. They weren’t exactly furtive about it…they just refused to look directly at each other in the stores as they bought their beer and whiskey. “If I don’t acknowledge seeing you, and you do the same for me, then neither of us were here.” > [@Shakes](#): > > Hell, the town of Buckingham pretty much existed for the sole reason to sell alcohol. Once Richardson saw how much money they were making, they anexed the town and started selling beer and wine through out the rest of the city. (Hard liquor, you still have to go to Buckingham.) When I lived in Richardson, the “town” of Buckingham seemed to consist entirely of a couple of liquor stores; they were resisting outright annexation because it would screw up their cash cow, but they were effectively part of Richardson. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/50 "2012-03-26T16:39:17Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > They weren’t exactly furtive about it…they just refused to look directly at each other in the stores as they bought their beer and whiskey. “If I don’t acknowledge seeing you, and you do the same for me, then neither of us were here.” My husband always said the definition of Baptist heaven is a place where you can speak to the preacher when you run into him at the liquor store. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/51 "2012-03-26T17:06:34Z")
Joke told to me by a Baptist preacher who married into my family: The differences in various religions: Jews don’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Protestants don’t recognize the pope as the head of the church, and Baptists don’t recognize one another at the liquor store. As a lifelong Georgian, I’m used to a weird patchwork of alcohol laws. Each of the state’s 159 counties, and each municipality within those counties, is allowed to vote on alcohol laws. My city and county passed voted to allow Sunday alcohol sale in the last election, but liquor isn’t sold by the package here, only by the drink. As this is a college town, the county line stores do a booming business. Back when I was a kid, there was a phase when my hometown was wet (not just moist,) but the liquor store was owned and operated by the city. The store had a drive through window, and sold draft beer. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/52 "2012-03-27T19:53:02Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Earthquakes, mudslides, sinkholes, droughts and a dysfunctional state government. Compared to that, a dry county seems like a welcome problem. Pfft. That’s just how we get our kicks. We’re bored with booze! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/53 "2012-03-27T19:56:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yeah, but the grocery store in that city has some great deals if you’re into vegetarianism. And the hospitals are first-rate. Ya got that right. May I be in that city if I ever have an infarction. Since I’m a heathen omnivore, may I also not burst into flame! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/54 "2012-03-27T20:27:17Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Could be weirder. Some states back east still have only state-run liquor stores. I live in an alcohol beverage control **county**. Beer and wine may be sold by private stores, but all liquor must be purchased from a county-run store. It’s not a bad thing as far as I’m concerned; there are plenty of stores around and they actually have very good prices, often significantly better compared to the stores in neighboring counties and across the border in DC. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/55 "2012-03-27T21:11:40Z")
When I was a kid (in the 1970s), our family would go on vacation with two or three other families (all of the dads were fraternity brothers). We would often go to “state resort parks” in Kentucky (picture a big state park with a hotel and cabins on park grounds). Frequently, these were located in dry counties, which meant that my parents (and the other adults) would be certain to bring along enough liquor for the week vacation, since getting more while we were there was problematic. I’m amused by the fact that so much of Kentucky was (and still is) dry, given the presence of Makers Mark and other bourbon distilleries in the state. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![spotthegerbil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@spotthegerbil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spotthegerbil)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/56 "2012-03-27T22:33:20Z")
Are there any legal objections to brewing your own beer or wine in dry areas? Are there any restrictions on buying fermentation kit? I’m very small scale, but I tend to use home brew kits, making about 40 pint bottles in around a fortnight. They tend to be around 5%. I’ve usually got a few gallons of fruit wine at one stage or another. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/57 "2012-03-28T00:26:25Z")
Blount County, Alabama where I grew up was dry and I assume it still is but I haven’t lived there in twenty years. I now live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (home of The University of Alabama) and the law against Sunday alcohol sales was voted out about a year ago. Bars and stores can now serve/sell alcohol from noon-9:30 pm on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/58 "2012-03-28T01:54:31Z")
> [@spotthegerbil](#): > > Are there any legal objections to brewing your own beer or wine in dry areas? Are there any restrictions on buying fermentation kit? I believe in general in most jurisdictions if you are brewing solely for personal use and are producing under a certain amount, you may brew away. It varies by state and county of course, but conveniently you can check your local laws [here](http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/government-affairs/statutes). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/59 "2012-03-28T02:41:57Z")
“Dry Counties (Booze fee) in America” There’s a booze fee now in dry counties? You can’t win! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714/60 "2012-03-28T06:18:55Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I live in an alcohol beverage control **county**. Beer and wine may be sold by private stores, but all liquor must be purchased from a county-run store. It’s not a bad thing as far as I’m concerned; there are plenty of stores around and they actually have very good prices, often significantly better compared to the stores in neighboring counties and across the border in DC. Yeah but the government workers an MoCo and Virginia ABC stores absolutely don’t care about booze or know anything about it. If I go into Pearson’s, or Paul’s in DC, I can ask them about different products and get advice. In MoCo and VA, I’m just going to get someone who will ring up my purchases. Also, the selection at government run stores is not very interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-counties-booze-fee-in-america/616714.md?page=4)