It’s Sunday morning, you’re sitting in front of the TV to watch whatever game might be on TV for the given season. It might be 11 am, but the sun is bright and you’re thirsty. You head to the fridge and to your dismay, find no beer. What’s worse, you live in a state like Colorado. Looks like you’ll have to wait to drink beer until your Monday morning commute. But fear not Colorado residents, things may be looking up.
Last Friday, the Colorado state Senate approved a bill that would allow Sunday alcohol sales. Three years ago, the proposal didn’t even make the Senate floor. The bill still has a way to go before the law is changed, a second vote in the Senate then on to the House. One change this time is the increased support by liquor stores. I guess they figured out that selling alcohol 7 days a week is more profitable than selling it 6 days a week.
This story on its own is fairly minor, but reminds me of when I lived in Oregon. I’m a native Californian and that means we basically punch our ticket for damnation by setting foot outside. We can buy beer and liquor anywhere we want. Liquor is available at corner stores, grocery stores, and if you need large quantities, try the warehouse stores like Costco. Best of all, these places sell you alcohol every day until 2 am. In fact I remember a bar in Hayward that offered the 6 am happy hour, serving $1 Bloody Mary’s.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do not support rampant alcoholism, but as adults living in America, I think we have the ability to decide when we want an alcoholic beverage. laws such as the one they are trying to change in Colorado are no longer relevant in today’s society. Beer and wine should be readily available to the adult consumer, 7 days a week, well into the evening. Personally, I agree with California’s laws regarding alcoholic beverages. Between the hours of 2 am and 6 am if you’re out of alcohol, it’s probably best that you don’t buy more.
So what is your state like? Any odd liquor purchasing laws? Share them.
Note: I do not condone drinking alcohol on your way to work on Monday, or any other day for that matter.
Florida has some pretty weird liquor laws. There is no liquor sold in grocery stores. I think that’s pretty common in a lot of states, but coming from CA that definitely struck me as weird.
Also…40oz bottles are not sold at all in Florida. You can still buy quart sized King Cobra, but you’ll have to go to Georgia to buy a 40.
I live in Alachua County. Here they have the same 2am-6am no liquor thing, but it’s different on Sundays. You can’t buy any alcohol (anywhere) before 1pm and after 11pm on Sundays. This sucks for so many reasons….mostly because football starts at 1pm out here and you have to miss the first part of the game if you want to buy beer.
The other Sunday I was up cleaning and what not when I got the idea to have some Mississippi Mud and grill a huge steak on account of it being so nice outside. I go to the store and grab my steak and Mississippi Mud, only to have the cashier remind me that I still had another hour until 1pm. I had to return to the store an hour later to buy my beer. That is not so good, Al.
Thanks to the religious majority in many counties in Fl and other states stores do not sell any beer wine or alcohol on Sunday before noon, or 1pm, and in some cases not at all. I believe I know why. if you are planning a boating trip on Sunday you will need your beverages in advance, Since most boaters leave early. If you have a party and whittle the beer supply too low this will force you to go out Saturday night to get the beverages. This Is the brilliant part! you will probably have been drinking and therefore are more likely to get a ticket for dui or some other traffic offense that will generate income (thousands of dollars) for the state and local economy! Just imagine how many people rush out to the store drunk at 1:55 am (which is technically Sunday). If it were available at 7am Sunday morning just like every other weekday we would see many less drunk driving incidences and injuries. The religious folks don’t want to have liquor available on Sunday because they supply it with crackers at many of their services. if you are hard up for a drink they think you will go to the church, drop a few bucks in the collection plate, and enjoy some wine and crackers while they preach what ever it is they are preaching about. I believe that anyone should be able to get beer or wine at any hour people just don’t work 9-5 like leave it to Beaver! Society is changing and so should our laws! If the religious people wont let us buy beer on Sunday morning they should not be able to serve wine at the church until after noon, or one, or not at all as the law implies
Then we will see how long the Sunday prohibition blue laws last!
Very interesting take ed. I doubt it’s a conspiracy to increase DUI statistics, as this is a dangerous way to make a few bucks, and I’m not sure communities would come out on top when you factor in the money spent trying to prevent DUI and deal with the accidents and response.
I live in Jacksonville, of course as the same we don’t sell liquor in grocery stores, but beer can be just as good if you prefer, but a lot of grocery stores aren’t even open at 6am ofcourse. I was looking up to make sure the buying times were between 2am and 6am, I don’t usually buy beer before 2 am, then I don’t have enough between haha. Thanks for the post. I appreciate it.