FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Gilly on June 09, 2008, 12:11:02 AM
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I decided I wanted to have a few beers tonight. No big deal, but in Minnesota liquor stores aren't open on Sundays and grocery stores and gas stations are only allowed to stock 3.2% alcohol. Not only does it have less alcohol but obviously you're not getting the same taste out of your beer. It's stupid that when I'm watching the Lakers and Celtics play (or the freakin' Super Bowl...but you should probably know to plan ahead for that) that I can't go somewhere and get a regular six pack of beer!
Anybody have any other crazy liquor laws in their states? I think MN is one of the few to still have the 3.2 law.
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here in Oklahoma, we also consider anything higher than 3.2 "liquor". The liquor store lobby strong and has done a great job of keeping "high point beer" out of the state (except in liquor stores) The thing that is a bitch about it here is that even in liquor stores, "strong beer" isn't allowed to be served cold. Some of the microbreweries will not allow their beers to be shipped here because they cannot be shipped/stored/sold cold.
The other thing that's a bitch about it is that because anything over 3.2 is liquor in OK, we can't have wine in our grocery stores. I don't know for a fact, but I've heard that one of the main reasons that we don't have a Whole Foods in OKC is because they can't sell wine. Also, there is a Whole Foods affiliate type store in Tulsa, but it's not a real Whole Foods.
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I grew up in Georgia, where you can't buy any alcohol, even 'near beer' in stores on Sunday. You could, however, get as tanked as you want in a bar. It seems like a law intended to force alcoholics to drive drunk on the Lord's day. Just insane and archaic. In New York you can pretty much get alcohol delivered to your door at 5 AM on Christmas Day if that's what you want. Which I do.
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I learned in The New Yorker* that Jersey has, and I quote, a "boobs or booze" law. Strip joints can either have boobs, or they can booze, and never the twain shall meet. The strip bar used in Sopranos for the Bada Bing! features bikini-clad dancers with nary a nipple in sight.
*It was a Talk of the Town squib regarding a symposium or some shit on the Sopranos. The scholars went on a little road trip to check out Sopranos landmarks.
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Same here. A couple Trader Joes opened up a couple years ago and I think they went ahead and bought a liquor license. But, the liquor store is separate area from the grocery store and it's still closed Sunday. You guys are a step behind us though with not being able to serve higher than 3.2 cold. People talk about legalizing pot and most don't realize the insane laws that still apply to beer and wine in some places.
You're right Forrest, that's what's really crazy about Blue laws. We have a brew pub a block away from my place called Barley John's which is highly ranked on all the websites that do that type of thing and it's really good. I wonder if I can get a growler from them after 10pm or on a Sunday....
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I'm a pretty big beer snob, so I'm lucky I live in massachusetts where liquor stores are open in the afternoon on sundays and high volume craft beers are easily found... good thing too, since I picked up a cold six pack of long trail ale before tonight's game.
supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations, however aren't allowed to sell any alcohol anytime. and no one owner is allowed to operate more than three liquor stores.
alabama however has a pretty draconian beer law that restricts any beers over six percent alcohol by volume, and any container over sixteen ounces, which pretty much bans most of the best beers in the world. there's a guy down there that runs a website called free the hops (http://www.freethehops.org), that's lobbying to amend the law.
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Here's a good article that was in the Mpls. City Pages in 2003 which explains a few of the laws... and 5 years later it all remains true.
http://citypages.com/databank/24/1201/article11733.asp
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Alcohol is heavily regulated here. Outside of bars, pubs, restaurants and the like, you can only buy alcohol of any kind at Systembolaget (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systembolaget), which is the government-owned liquor store. It's only open Mondays to Saturdays. You can get 3.5% beer in any supermarket though.
But it's not as bad as it sounds. Sure, it's annoying that you can't buy a bottle of wine on a Sunday or late in the evening if you want to, and it sucks if you live far away from a liquor store, but since it's the only thing around, they have an obligation to stock a wide variety of beer, wine and spirits. If you're looking for a particular brand of rare rum, for instance, they have to order it for you, for no additional charge. And, they can't charge too much for the alcohol either, since it's not a profit-making company in that sense. (On the other hand, taxes on alcohol are rather high.)
It's pretty popular to slam Systembolaget and rant about the monopoly, but I kind of like it. I'm all for better opening hours though.
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Comparatively, not too many restrictions in Ohio. No beer or wine sales before 1 pm on Sunday and liquor stores aren't usually open on Sunday at all. Hard liquor sales are usually cash-only, too.
Do any other states have the amazing drive-through beer places? It's kinda like a car wash - you drive into the building, someone takes your order, gives you the beer/beef jerky/Doritos/Mountain Dew Code Red, takes your money, and off you go without ever having to leave your car! Not such good selection in those places for my fellow beer snobs, but the existence of such places is usually good for a horrified laugh or two.
Actually, I just remembered a guy I know from Arkansas who told me his town has a drive-through store that sells liquor, bait, and ammunition. Now THAT's one-stop shopping!
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Colorado: 3.2 beer in grocery stores. Nothing on Sunday.
Utah has state stores, and bars can't add more than 1 oz. of liquor to a mixed drink-- the bottles have a little regulator. UNLESS the extra is for "flavor," which is why some booze bottles have little "for flavoring only" labels and no regulator.
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Some years ago, I was told that stores in Maine can't sell hard liquor before 9 a.m. on Sunday. But they do, at least my grocery store does, and I'm pretty sure it's legal, though there was still confusion as recently as five years ago.
I remember the shock of moving to Boston (from New Paltz) in 1979. No alcohols sales on Sunday, no beer in convenience stores, bars closing at 2 (and the T shutting down at 1--such good planning)--to what benighted throwback had I moved?
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Same thing in Wisconsin, depending on where you live, you can't buy liquor after 9pm anywhere but in a bar. However, uou can pay for a six pack or whatever at a bar, have it put in a sack and go home. Which means you are overpaying for the six pack but to each their own. Some tavern association has lobbied for years for this b/c they don't want your booze money going anywhere but in their pockets, at least after 9pm. And things get tricky because according to Wisconsin law, there is some leeway and some communities can sell beer until as late as midnight at convenience stores. The Town of Madison, for example, keeps selling until 10 p.m., while the City of Madison sells until 9 p.m.
That's because the Wisconsin liquor laws also provide for Class A beer license, which means a store can sell beer or any malt beverage until midnight. The community sets the specific cut-off time, which in Milwaukee is 9 p.m. to coincide with the Class A liquor license rules.
Another odd law is that if you are under 21 and accompanied by a parent, you can drink in a restaurant, if the owner allows it. I don't know about bars but when my folks and sister (whom was 17 at the time) came up, we ate a a restaurant and they allowed her to have beer as long as my dad said she could. He didn't believe me until we tried it and the waitress brought her a beer. I don't know if there is an lower age limit to this.
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Laws are wacky.
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In North Carolina, you can't buy any alcohol before noon on Sunday (in South Carolina it's all day).
All liquor (non beer, wine and malt beverages) in North Carolina must be sold through the state-owned (but privately operated) ABC stores. They are uniformly drab and depressing.
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how about this law: until last year it was illegal to tattoo people in Oklahoma. also,our porn can't sow penetration of any kind.
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I'm not aware of any kooky liquor laws in New York, per se, but one booze related thing that's awlays bothered me about Buffalo is how all of the bars here stay open until 4am. There's been more than a few evenings over the years when I've gone out to see a show somewhere and not seen the headliner take the stage until like 2:30am or so. Annoying.
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In PA they keep the liquor and the beer separate. Liquor stores are state-run so they're closed on any holiday in addition to sundays. And in most places, unless you're getting six packs from a bar, you have to buy beer by the case from a beer distributor.
I can't see the logic in any of it, really...
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In Ontario we have state-operated liquor stores only. It's not so bad though. Like Crimestick says, due to the fact that the state-run liquor stores are the only game in town, they have to stock a pretty wide variety. They claim that the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is the largest single buyer of wine and liquor in the world, and as such, is a powerful player. Also: a cash cow for the government.
We have separate beer stores, although the LCBO also stocks beer. It is pretty annoying that I can't pick up a six-pack at the corner store, but whattaya gonna do?
As a side note: I found myself in a crowd of men waiting for the LCBO to open at 10 am today. I wanted to run my errands before it got too hot, but wound up simply looking like an alcoholic.
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We have separate beer stores, although the LCBO also stocks beer. It is pretty annoying that I can't pick up a six-pack at the corner store, but whattaya gonna do?
I remember being 19, spending a drunken pub-crawling weekend in Toronto with some friends, looking to get some 6-packs for our hotel room, going from corner store to corner store and getting shut out, then finally asking someone where we could find some beer and having them scrunch their eyebrows at us and sarcastically go "Uhhh....THE BEER STORE, maybe?"
Good times.
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I remember being 19, spending a drunken pub-crawling weekend in Toronto with some friends, looking to get some 6-packs for our hotel room, going from corner store to corner store and getting shut out, then finally asking someone where we could find some beer and having them scrunch their eyebrows at us and sarcastically go "Uhhh....THE BEER STORE, maybe?"
Good times.
It seems so obvious when it's put that way, doesn't it?
Until 15 years ago or so, it used to be called "Brewer's Retail," but they eventually caved and named the stores what everyone called it anyway: "The Beer Store."
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I learned in The New Yorker* that Jersey has, and I quote, a "boobs or booze" law. Strip joints can either have boobs, or they can booze, and never the twain shall meet. The strip bar used in Sopranos for the Bada Bing! features bikini-clad dancers with nary a nipple in sight.
*It was a Talk of the Town squib regarding a symposium or some shit on the Sopranos. The scholars went on a little road trip to check out Sopranos landmarks.
Although I've never been to a strip club (not really my "thing"), this is true. The fully nude strip bars are byob, though.