There have been a couple of posts about alcohol so I thought I would give you the gist of the NC laws.

Beer and wine are available at most stores – convenience, grocery, drug and even some of the big box stores. There are also specialty stores that sell beer and/or wine. Liquor is only available at state owned Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) stores.

A few, very rural counties are completely dry. Some only allow the sale of beer/wine. To sell alcohol for on-site consumption the primary business must be something other than selling alcohol. So far only restaurants have been approved. That means there are no bars/pubs except those located in restaurants.

Consuming beer, wine or alcohol on public property including university property is prohibited. There are exceptions – like the pro sports arenas. Drinking is generally overlooked while tailgating. You won’t be allowed to take alcohol into the stadium. NC State does allow you to leave and reenter the stadium. I don’t think Duke or UNC do.

Sales are permitted from 7:00am – 2:00am Monday – Saturday and 12:00pm – 2:00am on Sunday. ABC stores are not open on Sunday and have much shorter hours Mon-Sat.

Oh, most of all, open containers are not allowed in cars.

How does this compare to your area?

It is 6AM to 2AM on premise (bar) or 6AM to 11PM off premise (store)

ABC is not open on Sunday but beer/wine sales vary by county on Sunday.

Tailgating has special ABC event permits so it is allowed in parking lots. You will see yellow ropes outlining each parking lot and those are designated event areas for consuming alcohol on gamedays.

There are food requirements at VA bars as well (can't be just alcohol).

Beer/wine is available in conv. stores and groc. stores... liquor only at ABC state owned stores.

A 'dry county' in Virginia usually refers to whether they sell any alcohol on Sunday or not.

The big thing in VA is a distinction between being allowed to serve beer/wine or 'liquor by the drink'. Liquor by the drink has to be approved by each county.

The county I'm in only recently approved it. We did however have one place that served it because enough representatives frequented it that they passed an exception at the state level to supersede local law.

Virginia is, in general, one of the most strictly regulated states in regards to alcohol.

PA has fairly strict alcohol regulations as well.

The big distinction is that in general you can't buy beer at grocery or convenience stores. This is something that has been getting relaxed, though, as grocery stores that have a cafe type setup where they sell prepared foods are allowed to sell 6 and 12 packs of beer. Some convenience stores sell beer but I don't quite understand the reasoning. My guess, though, is that it's tied to prepared food sales yet again.

You may only carry out 12 beers at a time at a 6 pack shop. If you want more you need to do separate transactions and take the beer from the first transaction outside and then come back in to buy again. Places have literally made me do this before. As dumb as it sounds it's not a joke.

If you want a case you need to go to a beer distributor. I do not believe they are allowed to sell quantities less than a case, however. Distributors are all over the place.

All liquor is sold at state owned stores called Wine & Spirits. They have hours similar to those listed above. I believe they're open until 9 pm most days and are closed or have seriously reduced hours on Sunday. Beer distributors do not sell wine or liquor.

Bars are open until 2 am. I don't know when they're allowed to open. I think it could be 7 am, though. Most open at 11 am.

There is no requirement that bars be tied to other business. The percentage of food sales at a bar/pub does affect whether or not smoking is allowed, however. Smoking is allowed if the percentage of food sales are below a certain number. I believe it could be about 20%.

To my knowledge there are no dry counties.

Although we have what I believe to be fairly strict open container laws, in Pittsburgh the police don't seem to enforce this on game day for any sports teams on the North Side (Pirates, Panthers, Steelers). Many people walk all over the streets near the parking lots with open beers. Tailgating is fine. There are o designated drinking sections.

For Panthers games at Heinz, you can buy beer in the stadium if you have club seats.

Yuengling brewery in Pottsville, PA claims to be America's oldest brewery. In eastern PA we order it simply by asking for lager. I don't really recommend other Yuengling beers but lager rocks. The brewery is still family owned and operated by Dick Yuengling.

Our legal limit is .08. You can get a DUI on a bicycle, too.

Beer and Wine are both sold in the Carrier Dome.

Onondaga County allows beer sales in grocery stores. Wine and Liquor are available at liquor stores.

No alcohol sales before Noon on Sundays.

Alcohol is allowed at tailgates, just as long as you keep it in the parking lots.

In NC counties have 3 options - completely dry, beer/wine or beer/wine/liquor. I suppose you could do just liquor but that would be really weird. I was at a clients house in the mountains. That county was completely dry. The neighboring county was beer/wine only.

NC State plays basket ball at the PNC center. It is also home to the Carolina Hurricanes. I think they play something called hockey. Beer/wine is available at Hurricane games. They stop selling prior to the end of the game. For State games they only sell beer/wine in the sky boxes. They stop selling 30 minutes prior to tip off and start selling again at the end of the game.

Drinking while tailgating, while technically illegal, is widely tolerated. If someone gets too rowdy they will add the alcohol charges to the mix and use that to kick them off the property.

(05-27-2012 01:00 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  NC State plays basket ball at the PNC center. It is also home to the Carolina Hurricanes. I think they play something called hockey. Beer/wine is available at Hurricane games. They stop selling prior to the end of the game. For State games they only sell beer/wine in the sky boxes. They stop selling 30 minutes prior to tip off and start selling again at the end of the game.

Having volunteered at numerous Hurricanes games as well as NC State basketball games, I can verify that at Hurricanes games, we stopped pouring at (I believe) 5 minutes left in the 3rd period -- kinda of funny seeing folks come to the counter to get that last 'pour', too.

Hurricanes games were alot more entertaining to work, compared to Wolfpack basketball games.

ndlutz, you should have said what those of us in PA border states already know:

PA has the most ass backwards alcohol sales laws. Trying to get a case of Yuengling you were better off driving to NY. Thankfully, OH now has access to it.

(05-28-2012 05:47 PM)mattsarz Wrote:  ndlutz, you should have said what those of us in PA border states already know:

PA has the most ass backwards alcohol sales laws. Trying to get a case of Yuengling you were better off driving to NY. Thankfully, OH now has access to it.

I thought about it and would have said that, however, after reading about states where there are "dry counties" I began to debate whether or not that is true.

That's the one thing I miss most about living in Florida. I was able to buy a case of beer at the Grocery Store or a Gas Station. Glad that old school way of thinking is slowly changing here.

(05-27-2012 08:28 AM)OrangeXtreme Wrote:  Beer and Wine are both sold in the Carrier Dome.

Onondaga County allows beer sales in grocery stores. Wine and Liquor are available at liquor stores.

No alcohol sales before Noon on Sundays.

Alcohol is allowed at tailgates, just as long as you keep it in the parking lots.

Does OC have a different last call time depending on day of the week? Niagara County uses 2am during the week, 4am on weekend overnights.

Buffalo / Erie County is 4am every day I believe.

It may be urban legend but I have heard that you can buy mixed drinks at drive-thru's in Louisiana.

(05-29-2012 07:18 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  It may be urban legend but I have heard that you can buy mixed drinks at drive-thru's in Louisiana.

While stationed at Barkesdale AFB, Shreveport, LA, we lived off base in an apartment. The shopping center in front of the several apartment complexes had an out building in the parking lot. The building housed Daiquiri Express.

Yes, you could drive up and order your daiquiri to go. Also, there was no open container law. Only the driver was prohibited from drinking. This was a popular place every afternoon all summer long.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/daiquiri-express-shreveport

(05-29-2012 06:26 AM)mattsarz Wrote:  

(05-27-2012 08:28 AM)OrangeXtreme Wrote:  Beer and Wine are both sold in the Carrier Dome.

Onondaga County allows beer sales in grocery stores. Wine and Liquor are available at liquor stores.

No alcohol sales before Noon on Sundays.

Alcohol is allowed at tailgates, just as long as you keep it in the parking lots.

Does OC have a different last call time depending on day of the week? Niagara County uses 2am during the week, 4am on weekend overnights.

Buffalo / Erie County is 4am every day I believe.

2 AM every day.

Rochester (Monroe County) is 2 AM, Ithaca (Tompkins Cnty) is 1 AM.

(05-27-2012 01:00 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  In NC counties have 3 options - completely dry, beer/wine or beer/wine/liquor. I suppose you could do just liquor but that would be really weird. I was at a clients house in the mountains. That county was completely dry. The neighboring county was beer/wine only.

NC State plays basket ball at the PNC center. It is also home to the Carolina Hurricanes. I think they play something called hockey. Beer/wine is available at Hurricane games. They stop selling prior to the end of the game. For State games they only sell beer/wine in the sky boxes. They stop selling 30 minutes prior to tip off and start selling again at the end of the game.

Drinking while tailgating, while technically illegal, is widely tolerated. If someone gets too rowdy they will add the alcohol charges to the mix and use that to kick them off the property.

Actually you can also buy beer at the Foothills stand at PNC Arena up to 1/2 hour prior to State basketball games. You just have to stay at their small dining area while you drink it. Nom nom!