Liquor laws

[Pat K]

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.

[erika]

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...

[Bryan]

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.

[Pat K]

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.

[Bryan]

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."

[A.M. Thomas]

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.