The new year is hurtling towards us, which means it’s time to have one last celebration. Just be careful when you do, because legislative history research has found that there are some pretty strange alcohol laws out there. Here’s a taste of some of the most odd.
Parts Sold Separately
There’s a legal statute in Tennessee that makes picking up supplies for a party a bit more obnoxious than it needs to be. More specifically, it makes it so consumer can’t pick up any sort of mixers in the same location as where liquor is sold. In other words, you’re going to have to make a couple stops if you want to have a party.
No-Drinking-Zones
In the more-than-200-year-old history of the constitution, there have been 27 constitutional amendments. Even though an amendment still needs to be ratified by three-fourth of the nation’s states after making it through congress, some bad ideas can still get through the cracks, like prohibition. Fortunately, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th, thus ending the long, strange, terrible saga of prohibition. There are still counties in the nation, though, that are totally dry, and plenty that are partially dry. These places are mainly in the South and along the East coast. And the legislative intent behind these legal statutes? Prohibition at the local level is often religious in nature.
Lukewarm Drinks
There’s nothing better than a nice cold one, which you can really only get at home if you live in Oklahoma. See, the Sooner State has a legal statute that makes it so that beers have to be sold at room temperature. That being said, it prohibits the sale of refrigerated beer above 3.2% alcohol by weight (or 4.0% alcohol by volume). In other words, you can still technically get cold beer, but your choices are a bit more limited.
Be careful this New Year. There are some weird legal statutes out there, after all. If you’ve found other strange drinking laws in your own law research, feel free to share in the comments.