# Is it true Booze must leave the liquor store in a bag? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771 "2015-03-11T18:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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 11, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/1 "2015-03-11T18:29:46Z")
I’ve had clerks claim booze must be bagged. They even have these special “bottle bags” that fits snugly. Think of the wino swigging from his[bagged bottle.](http://www.wine-blog.org/images/wineblog.org.brown_bag_bottle.png) Is this true in every state? Does it only apply to liquor stores? I buy beer from the grocery store in 12 or 18 pack cartons. I Never bag them. (they’d rip right thru a plastic bag) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/2 "2015-03-11T18:36:09Z")
Everything except beer must be bagged in Arkansas. ---
**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 11, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/3 "2015-03-11T18:41:37Z")
Yes, that’s what the clerks say. Even a six pack of beer from a liquor store gets bagged in paper. Or it was a couple years ago. I rarely buy beer at Arkansas liquor stores. Grocery stores are more convenient and the clerks don’t have pistols on their belts. I wasn’t sure if this is true in the other states. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/4 "2015-03-11T18:47:53Z")
I don’t know what the law here in Missouri actually states, but I often leave a grocery or liquor store with my alcohol unbagged. I guess it’s legal since no one ever blinks an eye, and in fact the clerks usually ask me if I want a bag, so the default seems to be not to bag. ETA: this is true of beer, wine, or liquor IME. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/5 "2015-03-11T18:48:04Z")
I know of no laws like that in Wisconsin and I do try to keep up with them. Just now (to be sure) I pulled up the laws and searched for the word “bag” and didn’t come up with anything. Here’s the [Wisconsin Liquor Laws](http://www.revenue.wi.gov/pubs/pb302.pdf), no mention, that I can find, of any specific way to carry your booze out of the store. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/6 "2015-03-11T18:58:22Z")
Not in Texas, or at least not if it’s in a box. Plenty of liquor stores don’t actually do bags if you buy a bunch of bottles for a party- they’ll go grab an empty shipping box for wine, or tequila or something, and stuff everything in there, even if it sticks out a bit and is easily recognizable as bourbon, gin or vodka. If you buy a smaller amount, they’ll probably use a brown paper bag, but that’s true even if you don’t buy anything alcoholic- just mixers and the like. Grocery and convenience stores don’t even care; they’ll let you wander out holding a six pack in your hands as long as you paid for it. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/7 "2015-03-11T19:00:47Z")
Not in Colorado, you can walk out with gin in your hand. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/8 "2015-03-11T19:44:40Z")
Louisiana has drive-up daiquiri bars, where they serve you something that looks like a milkshake cup. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/9 "2015-03-11T19:49:00Z")
It is not the case in California that alcohol needs to be bagged. This comes up in the news sometimes when various places enact laws about charging for disposable shopping bags. People get upset that they are forced to buy a shopping bag even if they just get one bottle. Then the municipality sends out a press release saying that alcohol does not need to be bagged. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/10 "2015-03-11T20:21:06Z")
In Pennsylvania (at least where I live) they always bag it but I don’t see any actual legal requirement for it on a brief google search. There are some requirements to bag beer in certain situations though. With all of our weird liquor laws I’m surprised this isn’t one of them. Or maybe it is and I just didn’t find it on google. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/11 "2015-03-11T20:29:16Z")
Replies upthread notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure there’s not a single state that has an alcohol bagging law. Please do provide state statutes if that is incorrect. I’m also pretty sure that a clerk saying “It’s the law” is probably the easiest way to get around potentially snippy customers. That said, plenty of stores may have policies to bag for whatever reason. And it may be the case that individual municipalities or counties may have bagging laws. For example, Dyersburg, TN does have a statute concerning bagging beer. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/12 "2015-03-11T20:53:05Z")
I’ve left liquor stores in numerous states with just the bottle and nary a bag. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/13 "2015-03-11T21:19:39Z")
I recall from an earlier thread on this that there are a few municipal laws here and there that require alcohol to be bagged, but it’s certainly true that belief on the part of clerks that such laws exist is much more common than the laws themselves. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/14 "2015-03-11T23:16:15Z")
If you remember the Bunny Colvin scene from the Wire “There’s never been a paper bag for drugs.” The cheap liquor in a brown paper bag was more a hand-wave around an open container law, not a law that liquor bottle had to be bagged when you left a store. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/15 "2015-03-11T23:22:33Z")
In Oklahoma, I recently bought a bottle of champagne. The clerk asked me if I wanted a bag, and I asked the appropriate question. The clerk said that up until a few years ago, it WAS the law, but, around 2008, it got changed. So, no, in OK, per the clerk. ---
**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 12, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/16 "2015-03-12T01:03:01Z")
I’ve always been puzzled by this. I thought the “liquor must be in a bag or sack” rule was a way of telling everyone that you weren’t drinking alcohol, typically in “questionable” areas, like parks. If you couldn’t see the bottle or label, it must be (wink, wink) soda. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/17 "2015-03-12T02:11:06Z")
The laws in California, as best I understand them, are along these lines: (1) When you buy an alcoholic beverage at a grocery store or liquor store, you may NOT consume any of it on the premises. You MUST take it away with you. I think this means you must take it away in the original can or bottle unopened. I don’t know if there is any law requiring it to be enclosed in an additional layer of container. (2) When you are served an alcoholic beverage (e.g., at a bar or restaurant), then the opposite: You MUST consume it on the premises, and cannot take any of it away with you. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/18 "2015-03-12T02:23:31Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > … The cheap liquor in a brown paper bag was more a hand-wave around an open container law, not a law that liquor bottle had to be bagged when you left a store. This. AIUI, the idea is that, if the cop knows it’s booze you’re drinking, you get an unpleasant experience. An opaque container keeps the cop from knowing it’s booze. Drive-through bars - ah, memories. My first job in San Francisco (from IN, no less) made a habit of ducking into a little dive which sat between the Financial District and long-term parking. At end of day, folks would order a mixed drink “to go” - they served them in foam coffee cups. SF used to be an open city (or as close as the US ever got). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/19 "2015-03-12T02:34:15Z")
Winos drink from a bag because they don’t want to know when the end is coming. -Bill Cosby. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771/20 "2015-03-12T18:19:42Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I don’t know what the law here in Missouri actually states, but I often leave a grocery or liquor store with my alcohol unbagged. I guess it’s legal since no one ever blinks an eye, and in fact the clerks usually ask me if I want a bag, so the default seems to be not to bag. > > ETA: this is true of beer, wine, or liquor IME. I’m in Missouri as well, and this has been my experience, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-booze-must-leave-the-liquor-store-in-a-bag/714771.md?page=2)