Since liquor laws vary greatly from state to state, I thought it would be interesting to list good states and bad states for liquor availability (retail outlets and hours of operation), selection and prices. That way if anyone from a bad state is traveling they can stock up when they visit a good state.

When I was traveling a lot in a previous job, I didn't pay much attention, so my lists are short. Please add from your own experience and feel free to disagree.

GOOD STATES:
Nevada
California
Arizona (according to AB)

BAD STATES:
Washington
Utah

I completely agree with your list.

I'd like to add Virginia and Pennsylvania to the bad states.
AZ is definitely good.
The only real problem I've had here is with sizes of certain bottles.

Not big enuff for ya?

And yes, AZ is definitely good.

I thought this thread was going to be about the Red and the Blue states. I wonder if there is a pattern? It would certainly sway my vote, if I voted. There are no issues more important than booze.

New from Dr. Seuss?

Good State, Bad State, Red State, Blue State

I'm not seeing any pattern of Red/Blue to booze laws yet. Maybe when more of us report in we'll have one.

Last year the Daily Show did a segment about a southern state (one of the Carolinas?) where booze is sold only in 1.5 oz mini-bottles - and that includes what goes in your cocktails at a bar!

That one is it's own catagory of bad.

I remember that.
Was it the whole state, though, or just a particular county?

The whole state. They would have to ammend the state constitution to change it.

Plus, all those poor bartenders would have to lern to measure.

I looked it up.
South Carolina.

Massachusetts - good.
Except no booze/wine/beer can be shipped into the state
from another state.

NY now allows liquor stores to open on sunday.

2 of my 4 local ones are taking advantage of it.



dunno about availability..i drink crap.

MA finally awakened last year to allow Sunday openings too.

Even Virginia started Sunday openings. It is a bad state but I've gotten stuff shipped in.

I think Oregon has a State run liqour system, much like WA. If this is the case. bad state.

Oregon is better than Washington. I believe they allow some private liquor stores which have deals with the State and you can buy EverClear there. Oregon = Good State.

That's cool. I was driving up the 5 and stopped into Costco to buy booze (and take advantage of no sales tax), but they didn't sell it there. At least it's not all State run.

Florida is a good state for buying booze. If it weren't, the suicide rate would be too high.

Indiana is a grate state.

being a fellow virginian i agree with the bad state rating, yes they did start opening on sundays here but not all their stores are open (none near me are). west virginia (at least for booze and nudie bars) is a good state, their bars can serve till 4 a.m. and some of the 7-11 stores you can buy booze,now that's convenient!!!

New Jersey I'd list as a neutral state.

Being from Nevada it was a shock to find out that you can't buy booze at the 711 or the supermarket, and 711s and supermarkets* actually close.


The good side of New Jersey is that the liquor stores (at least near where I lived) were large and had a good selection of booze that is hard to find in Nevada (few specialty liquor stores here), for a half decent price too.



* and gas stations!

I can go to NH for beer at any convenience store,
grocery store, or gas station.
Unfortunately, the selection sucks.
Booze is state run so it's much cheaper than MA,
and a fairly decent selection.

I don't even have to get out of my car to get booze here.
We have drive-thrus.

I don't know about that,
I have to fondle the bottles to make sure they're right
before I buy.

That must make it tough to buy absinthe.

HA!

It's the exceptions to the rule,
that, um,
prove my alcoholism?

and I actually tried to make some sense out of that comment

Can I vote in Missouri, even if I hate the state in the whole?

Although I am not sure of their selection and or prices, the one thing I do know is that you can buy bottle rockets there year-round, but only if you do not live in Missouri.

Also you can buy hard booze in their gas stations.

Overall, I'd call CO a very good state in selection, even though their liquour stores are closed on Sundays.

KS sucks. Neb sells beer on Sundays, but the bars close at 1AM! They suck worse!

Oklahoma sucks to get laid in. Texas just sucks.

I think Maryland would be a good state. We have some mega booze super-stores that are not run by da gub-ment. County laws play a big part in when you can buy though. Can't buy booze from a store on Sunday unless a tavern or pub is attached in Baltimore county but you can in Harford county right next to it. All this means is that you have to cross the county line to get stuff on Sunday if you need it... No biggie...

Good selection in most larger stores too. I never have a problem finding Hendrick's or anything which I have heard others say they have to drive a long way for. Smaller stores might not have it but there are a lot of large booze shops... ^_^

Read, think and

You should see him trying to buy milk.

I generally concur. But the whole county-regulated thing is weak. If you're a visitor driving through MD, there's no way of knowing which county regulations are imposed. You'd probably get frustrated and just say, "Fuck this state."

In my county, 7-11s don't dell beer & wine (not that I'd want to buy from them anyway, since their selection always sucks), but some gas stations/convenience store combos do, plus they sell liquor. Some counties have drive-thrus, others don't. Fortunately, my county's liquor stores are open on Sundays. Bars generally close by 2:00 a.m., but being close to D.C., there are plenty of afterhours clubs that go on until about 4:00 a.m. And Pimp's right about the liquor selection at the stores...some have a decent selection, others don't. There's no consistency.

The biggest drawback to MD that I just recently found is that online liquor stores won't ship here. Good thing it hasn't been an issue with my goodies from across the pond.

DC is good, 'course its not a state.

I'd just like to re-post that Washington sucks. The only saving grace is that we have a nice website to track all the booze in the state, and what is ordered is up to the individual store managers. So, if you do some homework and don't mind driving (sometimes over a hundred miles) you might be able to find something good.

Give it up, peoples. Booze is gay. It's time to smoke the heads of all your Star Wars figures. Corn cob pipe. Get down wit yer bad self.

Damn, I feel bad for some of the liquor deprived out there.

One of our local liquor stores covers an entire city block, and they will even bring it to your front door. (They also have several Supermarket sized locations around town.)

http://web.specsonline.com/specshome.htm#

And they have cigars, too!

Wow, I thought places like that only existed in my dreams...

So I can buy liquor that doesn't have Seagrams, Smirnoff or Bacardi on the label? Thanks for the heads up.

i have none.

will gi joe dolls and tinkertoys work?

No, but your Barbie dolls will probably do just fine.

now why the hell would i want to smoke something that i repeatedly shove up my ass?

well, it might smell like a fine cigar...

Hi everybody! I'm a greenhorn (sic) to the world of absinthe, so forgive my occasional ignorant post, including this one, if applicable. I thought this thread would be a good place for my first post.

My vote goes for Wyoming!!!!

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/title...le12/c02a02.htm

About halfway down the page.

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/title...le12/c08a01.htm

If you can fill out paperwork and follow commerce laws,
Wyoming's the place to be!!!!!!

Compare:
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/search/oop/qf...HiliteType=Full

That part b. is a real bitch.
P.S. no offense to AZ.

MeanMullet:
It's nice of you to contribute, but please make your way to The Public Eye and give us all a proper introduction.

I'll be charging up ToneWorks™ just in case.

Still, for only $250. That's pretty mellow. Plus you can buy real fireworks there (impossible to get any good ones here in SoCal).

You just don't know the right Chinese people.

No,that's just the depression caused by being in Tallahassee and going to FSU!


Actually, it varies by county a bit. Here in the Peoples Socialist Republic of Alachua you can only buy beer and wine on Sundays, after 1 pm-no hard liquors.

Until a few years ago, the container size restrictions on beer limited some foreign and micros that didn't have 16oz bottles,

Add Minnesota to the bad list, and Michigan to the good list. Here in the mitten, there ain't much we can't get, and we can get it until 2am. Minnesota closes the liquor off on sundays, all holidays, all weeks during which holiday's fall, and nothing after 10pm or midnight. I don't think you can buy before noon there either (it is 9am here).