Liquor Laws in Maryland

 Baltimore, MD

Breweries are plentiful in Baltimore

Liquor Laws in Maryland

Today was a half day of hanging out with Tony and then a half day of just hanging out so let's talk Maryland Liquor Laws!

I haven't spent much time in bars talking to bartenders on this leg of the trip so I need to dig in online.  I did my initial search and Wikipedia said this, " Alcohol laws of Maryland vary considerably by county, due to the wide latitude of home rule granted to Maryland counties."  I guess this isn't going to be straight forward.

State law prohibits open containers in private passenger vehicles just like every other sane state (I'm looking at you Missouri).  There are allowances for drinking in the back of hired vehicles like limos, taxis, and busses.  State sets the tax on liquor sales at 9% but that is about as far as the state is involved.  The state has left most of the governing to the 23 counties in Maryland.

So things don't get too confusing, Baltimore City is it's own county and is mostly surrounded by Baltimore County.

Baltimore City is the Nevada shape in the middle of the photo and Baltimore County is the county that looks like a wrench around Baltimore City.

Just walking around Baltimore I have noticed that alcohol is plentiful in bars and restaurants and that the liquor store is separate from the grocery store.  The city of Baltimore doesn't have it's own Alcohol Beverage Control.  On premises sales start at 6am and can go to 2am 7 days a week and Rocky Gap casino can sell 24 hours a day.  Packaged sales can happen M-SA 7am to 2am and on Sunday 11am-12am (so you can find time to go to church in the morning).  Packaged alcohols sales aren't allowed in Grocery Stores.  Packaged Beer, Wine, and Liquor are sold at dedicated stores.  There is growing support for Maryland to allow alcohol sales in grocery stores but the proposals that have been introduced haven't passed as laws yet.

In the state of Maryland there are still a few grocery stores that sell alcohol.  They have been grandfathered in because they were selling alcohol before the 1978 law disallowing it was passed.  The minimum age to buy alcohol is 21 but until 1982 it was 18.

The City of Baltimore does have a BYOB law and we have seen a few establishments sporting the fact that they are BYOB.  For those not in the know, BYOB stands for Bring Your Own Bottle.  Here is the wording straight from the law document provided by the city;

A restaurant that is not licensed by the Board may allow a customer to consume alcoholic beverages from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. the following day if:

(1) the alcoholic beverages are brought to the restaurant by the customer;

(2) the alcoholic beverages are consumed with a meal;

(3) there is no charge for admission to the restaurant; and

(4) the Baltimore City Fire Department determines that the maximum seating capacity of the restaurant is 50. 

Donna and I used to go to a BYOB Indian food place in San Francisco when we first moved there.  The concept was weird to us and after a few years they no longer allowed this to happen.

The Beer and Wine store attached to the local Harris Teeter Grocery Store near us.

The inside

One of the beers that I bought there.  It really tied the meal together.

A local liquor store I have yet to go into

That's my post for today.  Please remember that this info is from a consumers point of view and not legal advice.  If you plan on opening an establishment that sells alcohol in Maryland do your own research and let me know so we can buy a drink there.  If you missed local liquor laws in Missouri, Kansas, or Texas you can find the posts in the links.  If you missed yesterday's foodie adventure you can see it here.  I can still taste my delicious pit beef!