re: Interesting Liquor Laws, State to State

Do bars still close at 12a in Oxford, MS? That was always a weird one for me.

Georgia had a bunch of crazy laws back when I was in college but I think for the most part all have been normalized. Just recently they allowed breweries to sell their own beer

In Mississippi, there is no beer at a liquor store and no liquor at a beer store.

In many states, you can buy your wine at a grocery store, but not in Mississippi.

When we lived in Dallas, TX, liquor sales was local option. There were parts of Dallas, where one side of the street was wet and the other side of the street dry. I guess it is still that way.


We buy our booze in Louisiana - across the river from Vicksburg, because it is cheaper, even cheaper than Sam's. Obviously, the selection is better too.

I still remember when all of Mississippi was dry (prohibition until maybe 1967. I remember where the Rankin County bootlegger's (Red Hydrick) place was located, across the Pearl River from Jackson on Old Brandon Road, where the "Gold Coast" speakeasy club strip was located in the 1920's-1950's. Red was a character. His business was known to everyone, including the police. I think there was a "Black Market Tax" that could be charged and bootleggers paid it to local Sheriffs - sort of like protection money to keep them from busting you. Rad had a white cinderblock building with a flat tar and gravel roof. The front was a small convenience store and on a gravel drive that went around to the back of the store was the liquor operation. You drove around back to a solid wood window and honked your horn and the window would open and you made your purchase and then drove away.

If you were underage (under 18), Red would not sell to you. He was a bootlegger with morals.


When I started at MSU, Oktibbeha County was dry. All of the students would drive 12-14 miles to Lowndes County to one of several beer joints to drink beer. They included LynLou's, The Crossroads, Echol's and one other that refuses to come to me at the moment. Urban legend was that Lyn Lou - the lady who owned my bar of choice , was a former playmate. I know she was a fine looking lady. Each year one or several students would wreck their car, while driving back to campus after a night of drinking. Some wrecks killed students.

Those were the days when you could still buy Schlitz beer.


For a long time, your could buy a mixed drink (hard liquor) in Starkville, but not a beer. To save our young folks from Demon Budweiser.


When I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA, we had beer machines (like a coke machine) in our company area. Not sure if that exists anymore.

I remember friends driving from Starkville, I guess to Colorado and back on a weekend to buy Coors and bring back a car load. We thought it was a special beer back in those days.

In a military PX, I think you can still buy what is labeled as "Military Whiskey". Other than the label, it is Jack Daniels - same bottle, same booze, same label design.


In McHenry, IL, we bought our milk and bread at the liquor store. They almost gave those two items away (Much cheaper than grocery store), I guess to reward their loyal customers.

Enough trivia.

quote:

---

Texas allows voting precincts to be dry. So there are areas in the Dallas city limits where you can't even buy beer at the convenience store.

---

When I was a teenager, my family moved to Jackson Parish (N. La.) which at the time was dry. Every time there was an election they would put a referendum on the ballot to allow the sale of liquor. And every time the bootleggers and the bible thumpers would partner up and get it voted down. (They say politics makes strange bedfellows so I guess this is proof.)

Finally, one election they structured it on a ward-by-ward basis and some wards voted to allow it and others not. So if you were in a dry ward, all you had to do was drive a couple of miles to a wet one and you were GTG. I'm certain Moon Liquors in West Monroe lost a lot of business because of that.

quote:

---

Utah apparently limits the max alcohol content for beer to 4% unless you go to the state store.

---

When I was in Salt Lake City, the beer on tap was 4% or below, but beer sold in bottles or cans could be higher.

This is going to sound stupid but when I moved from New Orleans to Dallas, the first night we went out, I asked for a go-cup when bar hopping. The bartender more or less asked if I was retarded.

Mississippi has a strong local option with strange rules. No cold beer purchases in Oxford is up there and is still a law as far as I know. Bars could close at 2am on Friday but midnight on Saturday due to Sunday blue laws.

Texas voting precinct rule also lead to weird results. There was a precinct in the Houston Heights that was "dry" so you had to join a "club" before you could get a drink. Joining the club at the bar took about 30 seconds of paperwork.

quote:

---

And you had to buy beer by the case. And it wasn’t cold. If you wanted a 6-pack you had to buy it from a bar at a ridiculous price. Not sure if this is how it is now.

---

I think that is still the rule. Our son buys his beer from the bar at a mom and pop pizza place down the street from his house. I asked him why and he said because they could sell cold beer. Upside was that he can walk there in about 4 minutes and they know his name. I think when he walks in the door, they go to their cooler and get his beer six packs.

quote:

---

Growing up in Louisiana, you don't recognize how relaxed our liquor laws

---

I made the move from the North to Baton Rouge. That being said, I brought nothing as far as kitchen pantry/ingredients of any sort. After an exhausting move, I set out to Albertson's to gather ingredients for my first home cooked meal. Since I didn't have anything, I went with something simple, and nabbed a sack of mussels from the seafood counter, a clove of garlic, some parsley, pasta and a bottle of white wine. During checkout, the clerk said that she couldn't sell me the wine. I asked why not, and she replied, "Because it's Sunday." Welcome to Baton Rouge. I left the mussels and stuff at the register because I didn't want to cook the mussels without wine.

So I had the opposite experience with Louisiana as it was not as relaxed as I was used to. A 9% sales tax is just an added kick in the pants. Another odd thing is when I went to Abita brewery. At the bar, the could only sell the higher alcohol content Andygator in 6oz glasses. You couldn't get a pint. They could sell you an infinite amount of 6oz glasses, but not a pint. I couldn't figure that one out.

Now talk about silly, I made the drive to Mississippi with a friend and we sought out a liquor store. We went around the whole place, and the clerk asked if we needed help. Yeah, where's the beer? He told us that it was illegal to sell beer in a liquor store, and that we had to go to the "beer store".

In Salt Lake City, I ordered some sake with my lunch. They said they couldn't serve it until after 1pm. Apparently, the don't want workers to have a drink during lunch and then go back to work, which is odd, because Mormons are forbidden to drink. When 1pm rolled around, they were happy to bring me my sake.

Pennsylvania was odd too. They had State liquor depots that you had to drive a long way to get to. I can't remember if it was there or Canada where I had to buy something like a minimum of a case of beer. There were no six packs.

quote:

---

No cold beer purchases in Oxford is up there and is still a law as far as I know.

---

Thankfully they changed that several years ago. Source: I live in Oxford.

I think it is Tennessee where liquor stores can not sell anything non alcoholic so all the mixers have a slight amount of alcohol. I think under 1%.