Kansas Liquor Laws

 Kansas City, MO

A photo I took at a local Kansas City, Kansas Grocery Store

Kansas Liquor Laws

Kansas is a city so great it's too big for one state so we can talk about the Kansas side of things today.  We spent most of our time in KCMO but did spend some time in KCK and even had a beer there.  We didn't talk to any bartenders there so I am getting all of my info off the internet.

Wikipedia starts off with this sentence which shows the contrast between the 2 sides of Kansas City, "The alcohol laws of Kansas are among the strictest in the United States, in sharp contrast to its neighboring state of Missouri.".  I don't think I can distill the info that Wikipedia has any more than it is so here is more straight from the site, "Kansas had statewide prohibition from 1881 to 1948, longer than any other state, and continued to prohibit general on-premises liquor sales until 1987. Kansas's strict and highly regulated approach to alcohol stems from lingering vestiges of its long era of prohibition. As of January 2019, Kansas has 3 dry counties, where on-premises liquor sales are prohibited, but the sale of 3.2% beer is permitted. As of April 2017, Kansas still has not ratified the 21st Amendment, which ended nationwide prohibition in 1933."

There is a lot that I can copy and paste about the history but I will just keep it high level and give you the state of the state as it stands today.  One thing that I found interesting about the history of it includes the fact that "Happy Hour" was not legal in Kansas until 2012.  Before that, prices could be reduced but had to be reduced all day.

Today Kansas divides alcohol into 6 categories (not just the 3 that I am used to); "Alcohol Liquor" is anything over 3.2%, A "Cereal Malt Beverage" (CMB) is beer less than 3.2%, a "Nonalcoholic Malt Beverage" is beer less than 0.5%, "Domestic Table Wine" is wine less than 14% and made in Kansas, "Domestic Fortified Wine" is wine between 14% and 20% made in Kansas,  and "Domestic Beer" is beer 8% or less made in Kansas.

Packaged Liquor sales are only allowed by licensed liquor stores.  Grocery Stores and Gas Stations can sell CMB, which is the beer that is 3.2% or less.  If you want to open a liquor store in Kansas, you need to be a US citizen and have lived in Kansas for at least 4 years, as well as be 21, have no felony, never had a liquor license revoked, not be in law enforcement, and your spouse needs to meet all of these requirements as well.  Your liquor store needs to be 200 ft. from schools, colleges, and churches.  It also can't have an indoor entrance or opening which connects to another store.

On premises sales of Liquor need to be accompanied by at least 30% sales of food unless voters in a county vote to remove that requirement.  There are still 3 counties that have not approved any sale of alcohol, 63 counties that allow alcohol sales with the 30% food sales, and 39 counties that allow what I call normal bars, establishments that serve liquor and no food.  Alcohol sales are not permitted between 2am and 9am.  Due to Covid-19, to go beverages are allowed to be sold as long as the drinks have tamper evident packaging (one can clearly see if it has been opened).

This explains why most of the bars in KC are on the MO side.  We did have a few breweries picked out to visit but getting there by bus is just too much of a hassle because frequency is terrible. Checking off a Kansas Brewery will have to wait.

The one beer I had in Kansas while playing pinball. It was over 3.2%

An ad for Montucky Cold Snack on the side of the bar we went to in Kansas City, KS

That's it for today.  Kind of interesting hu?  I don't think we will choose to settle down in Kansas but it is nice to visit.  If you missed yesterday's write up on Missouri Liquor Laws you can check it out here.  I will leave you with some more official links below.

2021 Liquor Law Amendments

2022 Changes

Department of Revenue site with all the laws 

MO Liquor Laws

 Kansas City, MO

My Bronson's Milk Punch at Grunauer.

Missouri Liquor Laws

As we travel, I like to get familiar with local liquor and alcohol laws.  There are some surprising things out there and I find them interesting.  All of this info is either gathered from talking to bar tenders, our experiences, or the internet.  These are my observations from a consumer's standpoint and should be used for entertainment only.  Something I write here isn't going to stand up in court.  

So far, while in Missouri, we haven't experienced a situation where we couldn't order a drink of some sort unless we were at a place without a license.  In general, alcohol can be bought between 6am and 1:30am all week including Sundays.  Most bars need to be closed by 1:30 but there are at least a few in Kansas City and St. Louis that are allowed to serve until 3am and there is 1 "super secret" place called The Mutual Musicians Foundation that serves until 5:30am.  It has special status as a National Historic Landmark and a special law was passed by The Missouri House of Representatives to allow only this place to serve alcohol all night.  It's now the place that all of the bartenders, musicians, and late night partiers go after the bars close.  We have heard you can hear some epic music there after 1:30am but we can't stay up that late.

Packaged alcohol can be purchased at Grocery Stores, Gas Stations, and Liquor stores in Missouri.  This includes all three categories of alcohol (Beer, Wine, and Spirits).  Missouri state law specifically prohibits any counties, or unincorporated city or town from banning the retail sale of liquor, but only allows incorporated cities to ban the sale of liquor by the drink by public referendum. No incorporated Missouri cities have ever chosen to hold a referendum banning alcohol sales.

As far as I can tell, there is no law that requires food to be served with alcohol like there is in other places and no law that says food must be served at an establishment that serves alcohol.  There are real bars in all of Missouri as far as I can tell unlike our experience in Texas which was county by county.

We hear the open container laws for walking around are strictly enforced like they are in other places (our experiences with this are mixed as there are places we walk in the morning that are littered with bottles and cans of various libations). There is one district, The Power and Light District, that has a special carve out.  You can carry around an open container within a certain area.  The area is much like City Walk or Downtown Disney where there are multiple bars, food establishments, and outdoor entertainment going on in the evenings.  There are also legal carve outs for "festivals" and "events".  We have been to at least one "festival" where they opened up the area for people to bring their dogs to the antique district and then called it something fun and served alcohol.

The REALY interesting law here is the open container law as it pertains to vehicles.  There is NO OPEN CONTAINER LAW FOR VEHICLES!  This means that Donna can chug a bottle of Jack Daniels in the passenger seat while I drive 70 MPH down the interstate.  She would never do this but she could if she were so inclined to do so.

We will be able to have a drink in our campsites while we are camping throughout Missouri but you can't drink on beaches or in parking lots at state parks.  We will be traveling to some states where you can't have a beer while camping which I think is pretty dumb.  

And now here are some photos of various beverages we have enjoyed in Missouri so far.

I got a free sample at a brewery so that isn't necessary illegal.

Museum Beer!

That's it for today but you can read about yesterday's adventure here.