Blue Laws you've experienced first hand

[dfwmapper]

So here is an interesting question. Who, in the US, do you think has the most relaxed liquor laws?

California seems pretty loose with them. Booze is available from a Circle K to a Bev Mo to Costco.

Though I think Nevada takes too honor. I can't speak for all of Nevada, and maybe my experience is limited to Las Vegas/Clark County, but being able to get booze at any time, in most any place, AND carry around an open container?? A full 180 from places like Utah or the Bible Belt.

Nevada and Louisiana followed by Missouri and Arizona. Nevada has no time restrictions, permits public intoxication statewide, and Las Vegas permits open containers on the strip. They do limit liquor to 160 proof. Louisiana has no statewide hour laws, but most places outside of New Orleans have local laws. Public consumption from non-glass containers is legal in many places. Missouri has limited hours, but extended hours til 3am in parts of KC and St. Louis, and has statewide preemption of local laws that would further restrict things. Arizona limits hours and that's about it (and the hours are 6a-2a 365 days a year, with no Sunday, holiday, or election day bullshit). Arizona will fuck you up on DUIs though, including requiring ignition interlocks. California is pretty open as well, but caps thing at 153 proof, so no Everclear there.

[empirestate]

Prior to 2009, Utah had really archaic laws related to bars as well. Bars were illegal, they were considered "private clubs" and you had to pay a membership fee in order to be able to enter them to drink, making it kind of a pain for out of towners.

Yeah, that's the first one that occurred to me. In 2004 or so, I took a day trip into SLC from Colorado where I was staying at the time. I thought it would be nice to drop in for a beer somewhere, but I couldn't find any bars: every sign on the street said "private club". I finally went into the bar of a hotel I found, but upon ordering, I found out that it, too was a "private club". But the bartender, being familiar with out-of-towners, explained why that was, and that to order a beer I'd simply need a one-year membership to the club. He signed me up, comped the membership fee (which was only $5 or so) and poured the beer. I saved a box of their matches (you could smoke in public in those days–but then, it' a private club, so who's business is that anyway?) as a memento of the experience.

As for Pennsylvania's weird liquor laws, I've always found them amusingly unique, but never unduly restrictive. Heck, you can drink your face off in the bar until 2am, then walk home with twelve more bottles to continue getting plastered! (The laws have been seeing more loose interpretation lately, but as far as I know it's still impossible to buy an 18-pack of beer in the state.)

[jeffandnicole]

Though I think Nevada takes too honor. I can't speak for all of Nevada, and maybe my experience is limited to Las Vegas/Clark County, but being able to get booze at any time, in most any place, AND carry around an open container?? A full 180 from places like Utah or the Bible Belt.

Nevada and Louisiana followed by Missouri and Arizona. Nevada has no time restrictions, permits public intoxication statewide, and Las Vegas permits open containers on the strip.

They've been cracking down though. 

The Strip isn't in Las Vegas.  Clark County is the governing body over the Strip...and they recently have banned open glass bottles from the Strip.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/sep/16/glass-bottles-no-longer-allowed-las-vegas-strip/

And on Freemont Street, which is in the actual city of Las Vegas, they have cracked down on all containers other than plastic & paper cups.  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-council-bans-glass-aluminum-liquor-containers-fremont-street-experience

It always struck me as odd that Bible belt locales in Florida, Georgia. Alabama etc have beer in every convenience store and grocery store but NJ with huge catholic populations doesn't not allow beer sales except in liquor stores. When I go back to NJ it is really inconvenient when you just want a six pack or 12 pack or even a single beer having to find a liquor store especially after 10pm

To be technical, NJ does allow beers sales in any store as long as they have a license.  The laws of the state make seeing alcohol sold in a  supermarket a rarity though (offhand, I know of a Wegmens on Rt. 1 near Princeton that sells alcohol throughout the store, and I'm aware of, but haven't been in, other supermarkets and warehouse clubs (Sams Club) that sells it within the store).  After 10pm, most liquor stores are closed because it is state law liquor can't be sold after 10pm.  However, beer & wine can.  There are some bars that allow take out of package goods, so it's good to know where they are.  Those licenses that allow both consumption in and package good takeout haven't been created in decades, but existing licenses are permitted to remain, and are also permitted to be transferred to new owners in different locations, as long as they stay within the municipality.

[empirestate]

6 packs tend to be unusually expensive in PA.  Cases are fairly reasonably priced.

That's because bars tend not to actually stock 6-packs, except maybe a few very popular brands. Instead, they really just sell you up to twelve loose bottles, at single-bottle prices. Restaurants, on the other hand, might stock 6-packs exclusively, and many use this law to effectively operate as a 6-pack retailer, with only a limited emphasis on being a restaurant. I used to live near D's Six-Packs & Dogs in Pittsburgh, which was essentially just a convenience store with a fantastic beer selection and nothing else, plus a sit-down joint for eating hot dogs and drinking beer. That's why I never found the rules restrictive, since although I couldn't buy beer just anywhere–other than, you know, absolutely any bar–many places that had it tended to focus on it more carefully in terms of selection and inventory.

[froggie]

Froggie, didn't you say once that it is illegal to merely possess alcohol in a dry area there? In Kentucky, it's not illegal to possess or use alcohol in a dry territory unless possession is deemed to be for resale (bootlegging).

I believed that was the case, yes.  Never enforced from what I saw, but I believe that was the letter of the law.

I hate trying to quote from three or four posts from two pages back in the thread, because the "Insert Quote" feature only shows a handful of past posts from which to quote.

Copy/paste and do it manually.  It's how I normally quote.

[jwolfer]

Though I think Nevada takes too honor. I can't speak for all of Nevada, and maybe my experience is limited to Las Vegas/Clark County, but being able to get booze at any time, in most any place, AND carry around an open container?? A full 180 from places like Utah or the Bible Belt.

Nevada and Louisiana followed by Missouri and Arizona. Nevada has no time restrictions, permits public intoxication statewide, and Las Vegas permits open containers on the strip.

They've been cracking down though. 

The Strip isn't in Las Vegas.  Clark County is the governing body over the Strip...and they recently have banned open glass bottles from the Strip.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/sep/16/glass-bottles-no-longer-allowed-las-vegas-strip/

And on Freemont Street, which is in the actual city of Las Vegas, they have cracked down on all containers other than plastic & paper cups.  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-council-bans-glass-aluminum-liquor-containers-fremont-street-experience

It always struck me as odd that Bible belt locales in Florida, Georgia. Alabama etc have beer in every convenience store and grocery store but NJ with huge catholic populations doesn't not allow beer sales except in liquor stores. When I go back to NJ it is really inconvenient when you just want a six pack or 12 pack or even a single beer having to find a liquor store especially after 10pm

To be technical, NJ does allow beers sales in any store as long as they have a license.  The laws of the state make seeing alcohol sold in a  supermarket a rarity though (offhand, I know of a Wegmens on Rt. 1 near Princeton that sells alcohol throughout the store, and I'm aware of, but haven't been in, other supermarkets and warehouse clubs (Sams Club) that sells it within the store).  After 10pm, most liquor stores are closed because it is state law liquor can't be sold after 10pm.  However, beer & wine can.  There are some bars that allow take out of package goods, so it's good to know where they are.  Those licenses that allow both consumption in and package good takeout haven't been created in decades, but existing licenses are permitted to remain, and are also permitted to be transferred to new owners in different locations, as long as they stay within the municipality.

I remember in high school getting one if the waitresses where I worked to buy us a case of Coors light from the bar across the boardwalk. There was not much of a a lection available and sort of pricey.

There were some liquor stores that were open late selling beer, but we had to go to Lakewood.

I don't remember any grocery stores that had beer/wine in the aisles of the store, it was in the liquor store section. On ft Monmouth it was like other states beet in convenience stores( I worked for a beer distributor in college)

[bandit957]

Louisiana might not have many state laws, but some suburban communities sure do.

I went to New Orleans in 1993, and much of the city was very relaxed back then with regard to public drinking. I know they've cracked down since then. But even back then, the suburbs made pretty much everything illegal. We'd go to a New Orleans suburb, and all the signage was "don't do this, don't do that." No this, no that, no nuthin'. Because "limited government."

One of the suburban parishes way west of town had a road sign at the parish limits about how "THIS IS NOT NEW ORLEANS" and how their alcohol laws were very strict.

[bandit957]

They've been cracking down though. 

The Strip isn't in Las Vegas.  Clark County is the governing body over the Strip...and they recently have banned open glass bottles from the Strip.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/sep/16/glass-bottles-no-longer-allowed-las-vegas-strip/

And on Freemont Street, which is in the actual city of Las Vegas, they have cracked down on all containers other than plastic & paper cups.  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-council-bans-glass-aluminum-liquor-containers-fremont-street-experience

"Limited government" that isn't so limited strikes again.

[dcbjms]

Blasphemy is illegal in Massachusetts:

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter272/Section36

Let's hope the Massachusetts legislature doesn't have any translators skilled in Canadian French, since most (if not all) French profanity in Canada involves some form of blasphemy.  (The same is also true for many other Romance languages - "¡me cago en Dios!")

[6a]

Utah has a beer-only license, allowing 3.2ABW only, and also full liquor licenses that allow real beer, wine, and liquor. But, those can only be sold in combination with food, and you can't wander off with your drink after ordering (guessing there aren't a lot of dartboards in Utah pubs).

Do they still have the little partitions for the bartender to step behind when pouring a drink?

[dfwmapper]

Do they still have the little partitions for the bartender to step behind when pouring a drink?

Yes. And magic underpants.

[kphoger]

They've been cracking down though. 

The Strip isn't in Las Vegas.  Clark County is the governing body over the Strip...and they recently have banned open glass bottles from the Strip.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/sep/16/glass-bottles-no-longer-allowed-las-vegas-strip/

And on Freemont Street, which is in the actual city of Las Vegas, they have cracked down on all containers other than plastic & paper cups.  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-council-bans-glass-aluminum-liquor-containers-fremont-street-experience

"Limited government" that isn't so limited strikes again.

For a long time, I was erroneously under the impression that being "a conservative" meant desiring "limited government".  In actuality, a political conservative desires to uphold social conventions and institutions as they have been established, whereas a liberal desires to challenge such conventions and institutions.  One can easily see advantages and disadvantages to each position.  The thing that kept throwing me off–and this is probably because my father is both a political conservative and in favor of limited government–is that said social conventions and institutions may or may not be intrusive into your personal life and your personal choices.

At any rate, I prefer to buy my wine on Sundays.

[6a]

Zion curtains! I knew they had a name but it eluded me until now.

[triplemultiplex]

Ever tried Polygamy Porter?

Might have been the first sixer I picked from the shelf.
"Why have just one?"

[Scott5114]

I don't think gambling laws are considered blue laws, unless they only apply on Sundays.

I thought "blue laws" were any laws restricting a vice for a moral reason, but I don't really think about the subject much, so I'm probably wrong. I don't drink so I would be clueless if I was in a dry county.

[Scott5114]

Re: tribal casinos in Oklahoma

Don't the tribes contract with outfits like Harrah's to run the casinos?

I know the Cherokee casino in Cherokee, NC is run this way, but I don't know of any in Oklahoma that are not staffed by tribal employees (with the possible exception of the Hard Rock Casino in Catoosa). My gaming badge is issued by the tribal gaming commission, my checks come from the tribe, and I could theoretically appeal any workplace grievances all the way to the tribal governor.

[cpzilliacus]

So here is an interesting question. Who, in the US, do you think has the most relaxed liquor laws?

California seems pretty loose with them. Booze is available from a Circle K to a Bev Mo to Costco.

I agree.  Loosest liquor laws I have ever experienced anywhere. 

Always takes some getting used to the easy availability of liquor in food and drug stores every time I arrive in the Golden State.

I have only been in a small part of Nevada (next to Lake Tahoe), and not anywhere else, so I will not express any opinion on that state.

[jakeroot]

So here is an interesting question. Who, in the US, do you think has the most relaxed liquor laws?

California seems pretty loose with them. Booze is available from a Circle K to a Bev Mo to Costco.

I agree.  Loosest liquor laws I have ever experienced anywhere.

Coming from Washington, California has always surprised me with their lax approach to liquor. Being a minor, in Washington, I'm not allowed access to the bar area of restaurants, and in California I can walk into any pub and sit right at the bar and ask for a drink. It's the coolest thing but it completely throws me off (and likewise, tourists coming north rightly don't understand the overly-conservative laws of Oregon and Washington (never-mind the drinking age in BC of 19)).

[txstateends]

When I'd get people at my (now-ex ) front desk fussing because they can't get anything boozy after 2am, I tell them if they can make it to Shreveport, they let you drink till 6am.  Which still blows me down after being raised in a not-after-2am state.  Some bars here do open at 7am (except for Sunday), though, so they're not out of luck for long.

[thephantomcheese]

I can barely remember (this was late 1970s) when stores here in Western North Carolina would not only be closed on Sundays, but would close at noon on Wednesdays (for people to get ready for Wednesday night church services???)

[Big John]

I still don't understand Pennsylvania's laws regarding beer sales. I was astonished to walk into a Walmart in suburban Pittsburgh a few years ago and see no beer for sale. You can buy beer at a bar to take home, but not at a Walmart-type store or at a convenience store.

Regarding PA:

In general, 6 packs can only be sold by retailers that have dining areas.  Yes, that's right: A place where one normally would sit down and drink a beer in normal states is where they must go to purchase a 6 pack in PA.  If you want a case of beer, you have to go to a beer distributer.  But, you can only buy cases at distributers...you can't buy a 6 pack there.

6 packs tend to be unusually expensive in PA.  Cases are fairly reasonably priced.

Also, you are limited to the number of 6 packs you can buy...you can only purchase 2 at a time.  They may have 12 packs, but it's fairly rare.  If you want more than that, your buddies have to come with you...or you have to go to a distributer.

Where does this other quantities of beer, such as 18 packs?  Due to the laws, they can't be sold in PA!

Note: In a few other states, including Delaware, you can't walk into a Walmart and buy beer either.  NJ is generally that way - there are rare cases where you can walk into a supermarket and purchase beer/wine/liquor amongst the other goods, but they're few and far in between.  For the most part, you have to go to a liquor store to purchase beer/wine/liquor.  Ironically, the selection of alcohol in NJ liquor stores is better than what you will find in Walmart, because more space can be dedicated to craft brews and liquors that tend to be slower sellers, or sold in a store because the owner/manager knows their locals and clientile.

PA just slightly loosened up their rules:  Distributors may now sell 12 packs: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/03/06/pa-gets-green-light-to-sell-12-packs-of-beer/

[GCrites]

I can barely remember (this was late 1970s) when stores here in Western North Carolina would not only be closed on Sundays, but would close at noon on Wednesdays (for people to get ready for Wednesday night church services???)

It could be that they were only allowed to be open X amount of hours a week. They would give up a slow time like a Wednesday afternoon in order to be open longer on the weekends.

[cpzilliacus]

Ever tried Polygamy Porter?

Might have been the first sixer I picked from the shelf.
"Why have just one?"

I cannot drink much beer or anything else with alcohol these days, but when I visited Utah for my I-70 clinch, I did get a couple of six packs of Polygamy Porter for my Dad, who enjoys such things.  His review was favorable, so yes, he did have more than one, but not in that context.

Not that many places along I-70 in Utah to make such purchases, but I found it for sale at a Conoco truck stop on Utah 19 north of I-70 in Green River (the Chevron across the street did not sell beer).,

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

In New Hampshire, it is illegal to sell alcohol after 11:45pm any day.  I don't remember if it's prohibited on Sunday or not.  Most stores stop selling at 11:30.  Living on the coast, I just drove up to Maine to get beer after 11:30, where it can be sold until 01:30.

[ftballfan]

Michigan has somewhat liberal liquor laws. 7am-2am seven days a week. Most grocery stores carry beer, wine, and liquor. Only holiday restrictions are that sales end at 9pm on Christmas Eve and begin at noon on Christmas Day. On a note with the car dealership laws, I have only found one car dealership that is open on Sundays in Michigan. It's Sundance in St. Johns, located in Clinton County (pop. 75,000)