Strange Liquour Laws

[ackvil]

Some time ago, I had a client in Dublin, GA. I learned the town was dry. I was staying at a Holiday Inn that had a "private club" that sold liquor. It was in a separate room from the restaurant. If you wanted a drink with your meal you had to go to the bar, show them your club card, get your drink, and then take it to the restaurant.

Another time we were driving from FL to IN. It was a Sunday and we stopped at a town in Perry GA. I learned that restaurants could not serve liquor on Sunday. We ended up driving further to Valdosta, GA.

 

[ackvil]

Some time ago, I had a client in Dublin, GA. I learned the town was dry. I was staying at a Holiday Inn that had a "private club" that sold liquor. It was in a separate room from the restaurant. If you wanted a drink with your meal you had to go to the bar, show them your club card, get your drink, and then take it to the restaurant.

Another time we were driving from FL to IN. It was a Sunday and we stopped at a town in Perry GA. I learned that restaurants could not serve liquor on Sunday. We ended up driving further to Valdosta, GA.

 

[Kazeryu]

Ontario here.
Things have started thawing out a bit in the last year - a limited number of grocery stores are now allowed to sell beer, and an extremely limited number of them can now sell wine. Aside from that, you have to go the the LCBO for everything "not-beer" (although they sell plenty of excellent beer too), or "The Beer Store" for beer and cider. The disadvantage is that if the LCBO / Beer Store don't carry what you want, you're out of luck. The advantage is that the selection is pretty good and there's no need to compare prices in an unfamiliar store.

I find that 3.2% law amusing - I'm not sure I've ever seen a beer so low! I guess it's a US thing?

The zion curtain is also great for a laugh - as if it will somehow reduce 'temptation'!

 

[cvargo]

The zion curtain is also great for a laugh - as if it will somehow reduce 'temptation'!

I remember when the bill was introduced. They believed that if kids couldn't see drinks being made then they wouldn't want to try alcohol, at least that is how they explained it to constituents.

 

[Kazeryu]

I remember when the bill was introduced. They believed that if kids couldn't see drinks being made then they wouldn't want to try alcohol, at least that is how they explained it to constituents.

I had to smother a laugh at my desk!

 

[Doc4]

they had "liquor stores" and "beer stores" ... all run by the Provincial government.

It's like that here in PA also. Beer is from the "distributor" or directly from the brewery, and liquor and wine comes from the "state store". (That one's obviously run through the state government.)

My mistake ... the Ontario "Beer Store" is actually owned by the breweries.

The Beer Store - Wikipedia

Brewers Retail Inc. (doing business as The Beer Store), is a Canadian privately owned chain of retail outlets selling beer and other malt beverages in the province of Ontario, Canada, founded in 1927. Owned at its inception by a consortium of Ontario-based brewers, it currently operates as a unique open retail and wholesale system jointly owned by 30 Ontario-based brewers.[2]Under this new ownership model, all qualified brewers are free to list their products without discrimination and are fully responsible for setting their own selling prices.[3] These prices are subject only to basic LCBO price approval which must comply with legislated minimum and uniform pricing requirements.

 

[paintflinger]

CT and RI both have reduced hours on Sunday, with RI trailing CT by an hour for both opening and closing. CT calls all of the stores package stores, which I find silly. In NY, you could buy liquor and wine at the liquor store, which closed fairly early, but you can buy beer 24/7 at grocery stores and gas stations.

 

[Joma12]

For my town in NC, it was liquor stores were closed on Sunday.

NC also had started enforcing a particularly harsh zero tolerance law for drinking and driving (cops only needed to think and make a judgement call that you're above the limit in my town).

I've seen some cities and restaurants restrict alcohol sales to a particular time of day.

Not a liquor law, but it's a strong tie-in. Absolutely no smoking inside public spaces (bar), and sometimes smoking can't even be visible. Our local bars had to make a fenced-in patio just to comply and still properly serve their patrons.

Not strange, but I consider public intoxication laws to be strange. Some of the hardest pressed policing issues are preventing DUI's, but you're still wrong for walking home drunk.

That Zion curtain takes the cake I think.

 

[Avvatar]

I enjoy this explanation of Utah's laws.

 

[cvargo]

I enjoy this explanation of Utah's laws.

This is funny!

I totally forgot that. It is true if you go into a bar they scan your drivers license. It goes to a system and is housed for 2 weeks. Basically so they know who was in a bar and when.

 

[Avvatar]

And the machines used to scan the licenses are sold only through the DABC (Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control) at a hefty $1,500 a pop.

Add to this that Utah issues PAPER COPIES of temporary licenses...

Also, the legal limit for driving a vehicle in Utah is .08%, 18 wheeler - .04%,

A bartender will be fined, jailed, terminated, and have his/her server licensing permanently revoked for anything above .00%.
That isn't a typo.

 

[redfalconf35]

I feel it should be based on impairment, not everyone processes alcohol the same. As I mentioned earlier, my tolerance is much higher than the wife's. Interestingly, when Colorado legalized pot many lawmakers argued against a specified level due to different folks processing it differently. Hmmm.

I'm big on harsh reactive punishment for dangerous driving instead of milder proactive punishment. Instead of punishing people for being at 0.09 or for being 5 over, nail them and nail them hard when they cross the center line or when they cut some guy off or when they are generally driving recklessly. Then, make their intoxication a multiplier on the punishment they get for their reckless driving. IMO, the roads would be much safer if the focus was less on checkpoints and speeding tickets, and more on severely punishing the dangerously reckless drivers, whether they are dangerous due to intoxication, distraction, or character defect.

Back to dumb laws

I remember when I worked in a supermarket in IN during high school, they had (and probably still have) the law that there were to be no alcohol sales on Sunday. At the beginning, we were open 24 hours/day, and people would regularly get caught at 12:02am on Sunday with cases of beer and bottles of wine, and the computer locked us out from selling it to them. They were usually not the happiest of campers. It took the manager a year to figure out that he needed to barricade off the alcohol section on Sundays. For the first year, it was one person's almost full-time job to restock the alcohol shelves on Sundays from all the unpurchasable alcohol that made it to, but not through, the checkout line.

 

[Pepin]

I lived in Ontario back in the early 1990s ... back then (still today???) they had "liquor stores" and "beer stores" ... all run by the Provincial government. You could buy hard liquor and wine at the liquor store ... but not beer. You could buy beer at the beer store ... but not anything else. And yes, the two stores were intentionally far apart from each other.

Now, the liquor store was sort of normal, with the bottles on shelves and you walked up and down the aisles browsing and getting what you want and then going up to the cash register to pay. But the beer store? Well, you walk in and there's basically a room, a cashier, and a sort of conveyor belt thing (actually just a bunch of rollers.) You go up to the cashier, tell him what you want, pay and the (and only then) clankity-clankity-clank your beer comes down the rollers from the back room. I suspect it's changed a bit now, but still ...

The liquor stores (LCBO) have a good selection of imported and craft beer as well.

The advantage of the set up is that they have buying power, as they purchase for most stores in the province.

For some of the more unusual or rare items you have to look on their website to find out which stores carry the item.

 

[cvargo]

Also, the legal limit for driving a vehicle in Utah is .08%

Going to .05 though Utah’s .05 DUI law is likely here to stay, but groups hope to tweak it

 

[FL shaver]

CT and RI both have reduced hours on Sunday, with RI trailing CT by an hour for both opening and closing. CT calls all of the stores package stores, which I find silly. In NY, you could buy liquor and wine at the liquor store, which closed fairly early, but you can buy beer 24/7 at grocery stores and gas stations.

I grew up in CT and knew only package store!

I was married at my father-in-law's house in Barrington, RI, which apprently has one of the highest concentrations of alcoholics in the country. I didn't know until I went back for a visit with the in-laws (Beer me!) that Barrington was a dry town. Had to go over the line to Warren for a six pack. What an inconvenience! I believe it is no longer dry. I think alcohol may have been served in restaurants when I was last there.
RI’s last dry town getting first 2 liquor stores

 

[paintflinger]

Never knew that about Barrington

 

[stan.klonowski]

Here in AZ you need to post a sign in areas where alcohol is served if you want to limit the carrying of firearms. No sign and of legal to have a gun at the bar.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Joma12]

I enjoy this explanation of Utah's laws.

This really reminds me when I learned that VA has a blacklist for what they consider 'habitual drinkers' called the interdiction list. Anyone can be put on it at the judge's discretion even if it's for a cop saying that he smelled alcohol. It forbids buying and imbibing alcohol anywhere, being in any establishment that sells alcohol regardless if they're drinking anything. You don't even know if you're on it since it can be added in absentia, and they don't tell you when you're taken off of it either. Violating this in any way is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Providing or selling alcohol to someone on the list is a Class 1 misdemeanor as well.

What It Means to Be Interdicted in Virginia: Crimes and Penalties
Virginia Jails People for Even Smelling Like Alcohol

 

[nyrican52884]

Growing up in FL there are not many liquor laws, but I think at some point we couldn't buy beer before noon on a Sunday. That's changed.

I lived in MA for 5 years and it is illegal to discount liquor at a restaurant/bar (I think this one was mentioned). Imagine my surprise when I invited everyone at work to Happy Hour as the new guy, only to find out there's no such thing as happy hour.

I was also refused a second drink, because my first was not empty.

Although you can find beer and wine at grocery stores, not all of them carry beer and wine. Most of the time I had to go to a big Walmart.

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[ackvil]

I enjoy this explanation of Utah's laws.

That was funny. Part II was also good.