Outdated, Stale Liquor Laws...

Most of MD does not allow beer/wine/liquor to be sold at grocery stores, convenience stores, Wal-mart, Costco, etc. I would love to be able to pick up beer while shopping at Wegman's but our government has decided in its infinite wisdom that such a thing should not be allowed.

 

Don't get me started with Tennessee:

http://www.metropulse.com/stories/t...sing-and-frustrating-is-it-time-for-a-rewrite

 

The state (Commonwealth) of Pennsylvania has similar laws about not permitting alcoholic beverages from being purchased and ‘imported’ from other states:

"The general rule is that bringing any alcoholic beverage into Pennsylvania is illegal, with limited exceptions." You have to be "the Board, a manufacturer, or the holder of a sacramental wine license or of an importer license" to transport or possess any liquor or wine within the Commonwealth that has not been purchased from the State Store System or a state winery. "Accordingly, you cannot simply cross the border into a neighboring state, purchase a bottle of wine and return to Pennsylvania, as both the importation and possession of such wine would be illegal."

http://noplcb.blogspot.com/2009/10/bringing-any-alcoholic-beverage-into.html

Cheers!

 

Happy Hour is illegal in Indiana. No beer sales on Sunday - but you can buy it at a brewery for carryout. Limits on how much beer can be produced annually by a brewer. No cold beer in grocery stores.

This is a fun one: If my grocery store cashier is 18 they have to go get a 19 year old (or older) to run the beer across the scanner. I can still give my money to the 18 year old.

Those persons under 21 years old may be employed at a permit premise provided they do not handle, serve, or sell alcoholic beverages. (IC 7.1-5-7-13) Individuals who are at least 19 years of age can "ring-up" the sale of alcoholic beverages in the course of their employment at a drug or grocery store if there is at least one other employee on the licensed premise who is twenty-one (21) years of age or older, and responsible for supervising the minor. (905 IAC 1-15.3-1)

It is unlawful for a permittee to discriminate between purchasers by granting a price discount, allowance, or service charge (a cover charge is not included in this) which is not available to all. For example, "drinks half-price to females", or "prices reduced between 5:00PM and 7:00PM." (IC 7.1-5-5-7 & IC 7.1-5-10-20)

Sadly - these laws are not "outdated." It's Indiana and we party like it's 1954.

 

No babies on beer labels - Michigan

 

Just read this post in Homebrewtalk this morning:
"It's a class 3 felony to homebrew in the town I live in..."
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=446312

Crazy

 

This. Pennsylvania has completely absurd and outdated laws. This is just an example.

 

Growlers only where they are brewed. Seems like there is a bill in the works that may change this at some point, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

How enforced is this? I've traveled through PA with plenty of beer from other states before and ran into no trouble.

Minnesota's no beer sales on Sundays is pretty silly. They just recently got it changed so that growler sales are okay on Sundays.

The worst thing in WI that I can think of is 9:00 PM closures of liquor stores in most places and an earlier bar-time than many places (2:00 AM on weekdays and 2:30 AM on weekends). We even allow minors to drink if their parents/guardians are present and consent.

 

One state springs to mind immediately. @Wasatch even though you are in Co. now, I bet Utah laws had something to do with that, no?

 

Not to mention liquor/beer stores being closed on sunday. Eff that. It's football season coming up and sometimes a need a sixer for the game.

EDIT: varies by county, but the one i live in, you need a special permit, or to be attached to a restaurant. WTF

 

Alabama has to be one of the worst! Thanks to new legislation we can just now start to have what other states have been doing for 20 or more years.

2009 beer over 6% abv allowed
2011 brewery can sell for on site consumption
2012 bottles over 16oz allowed
2013 no longer illegal to homebrew

Breweries still can not sell for off site consumption (no growlers/bottles/cans) and some counties can't sell alcohol on Sundays.

 

The law enforcement arm of the PLCB is the PA State Police. I have heard ‘stories’ that the PLCB has ‘requested’ that the PA State Police not enforce these laws.

I can tell you an old story (10+ years ago): a friend told me that his boss was stopped by the PA state cops when he crossed from NJ to PA when he had several hundred dollars’ worth of wine in the trunk of his car. The police asked him to open his trunk and they took the wine from him.

Like I said, I have heard ‘stories’ that it is no longer enforced. Take that FWIW.

Cheers!

 

I hate the ABV cap in general.

So let me get this straight: I can go get tanked on Bacardi 151 fine, but having a beer above 12% ABV is bad?

 

There are is no happy hour in Vermont, but a lot of bars simply do daily specials which are typically pretty good.

On the flip side, I miss living in California. You could buy tequila at the supermarket. One stop shopping for margaritas!

 

So, apparently you know why these laws exist.

Cheers!