[www.costcoconnection.com]

It's right there on the label: "from Macallen Distillery"

Although some scotch forums seem to indicate that there are still differences between this and "The Macallen".

@varro: Sounds like you're going to have problems if the beer companies are moving toward the 20-pack in their efforts to downsize, hah.

As far as I remember, there was a noon limit (preventing front-loading in bars before Steeler games), and a bar had to have a certain amount of food sales to get a Sunday license. (This was in the late 70s and 80s when my dad had a bar in Pittsburgh.)

Oh yeah, you have to buy beer in special beer stores, and you can only buy a case or more. If you want a 6-pack or 12-pack, you have to go to a bar. It's to protect the *chiiiiiildren*!

That said, I wouldn't do it. If I ever tripped & broke something on my way out of a liquor store, it would be the day I was cradling $100 worth of premium tequila.

- can't buy any alcohol of any kind in grocery stores
- must go to a State-run "State Store" to buy liquor or wine (which will never change because of the ridiculous amount of money the state gov't makes on those sales)
- must go to a beer "distributor" for 24 packs or higher (but nothing lower than a 24 pack is allowed)
- must go to a "bottle shop" or licensed bar or restaurant to purchase 192 oz. or less of beer (you can buy more, but you have to take it out to your car first and then come back in and put it on a separate transaction... no joke!)
- I'm sure I'm missing something else...

I'm not sure any more what the limits are on alcohol sales (beer, liquor, wine, etc.) and bar hours on Sundays, but they're likely just as backwards. "Thanks a lot, Puritans!"

If it's the stores' free choice, then great, I'm all for it. But if it's a dumb law that people are taking advantage of, then it's unfair to the store.

State liquor laws are a crazy patchwork. Keeping track of what is legal in which state can be a full-time job.

I'm going to print this article. I'm going to find the labeled store policy in their own documentation SOMEWHERE, and I'm going to go look at their alcohol section. And she can't stop me for once.

I'm going to ENJOY this.

This indeed works in California.

@ChrisC1234: Most of the Sam's and Costco's I have been in have this clearly posted on a sign in the liquor area. Some even have it at the front door.

There are some ridiculous laws still around in some cities a restaurant can not serve liquor period (beer and wine is fine) and the dumbest is no alcoholic beverages served after 9pm Xmas eve. Xmas and XMas eve are when you NEED alcohol

In New Jersey each municipality has its own set of laws governing liquor sales and licenses. NJ is a very complicated state as far as liquor laws are concerned.

@kateblack: If they really hassle you, just go to customer service and get a guest pass for the day. Always good if you have the munchies and the samples are out.

Worth mentioning......since alcohol is considered a drug to some.....

You can also use the pharmacy at BJ's, Sam's, and Costco without a membership....this is nationwide. You can save a good deal on most prescriptions....or at least used to be able to before everyone went to $4 meds.

@KyleOrton: Underage girls in uniform and door-to-door beer delivery? There's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm not in the mood to get banned again.

in delaware you can't buy alcohol anywhere except liquor stores. i think there is one costco that has a seperate liquor store partition.

Its to the point that the surrounding counties go out of their way to prevent Bergen from repealing their blue laws because of the drop in revenue it would create!

Talk about idiots.

Ever since our Sams Club was built I completely stopped going to the local liquor store in our area for anything but wines since Sams has some amazing selections of beers and liquors I have never seen before. The just have a crummy wine section.

Considering they are no cheaper than my local grocery store and/or liquor store, Ill stick to buying at the local places.

List is wrong.

That was it. I had someone once that wanted to buy liquor and I had no idea. He knew he could, so I called a manager over and they said it was fine. The only odd thing was how anal the front-end manager was - he actually called someone off the front end to escort these people to the liquor section and make sure that they didn't try to buy any other merchandise.

@British Benzene: Or any kind of alcohol - including beer & wine! Welcome to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thank you, Liquor Control Board!

The idea is that since a liquor license is valuable, and controlled by the state, a business shouldn't be allowed to set rules. (This is of course different from a license for a restaurant, country club, etc.)

@ChrisC1234: For the most part you can hold up any credit card sized card to get in. I've entered flashing all sorts of cards in a quick instance. Just depends on how well they pay attention.

@Darascon: Man, I wish my costco had bulk liquor now. Thanks for the info everyone.

My Costco, in New York City, has a separate liquor store (with an unrelated name) situated separate from (but in the same building complex as) the Costco itself. The liquor store has a vaguely limited selection, typical of Costco, but the prices are not as low as I would expect at Costco. In fact, I see no advantage to shopping there; better prices on wine are available at Trader Joes and on hard liquor the prices at the Costco-ish place are competitive at best.

The no membership policy makes sense, in that the liquor store appears to be designed to be partially or entirely independent of Costco itself. Note that in New York, a grocery store, which would seemingly include your typical Costco, cannot sell wine or hard liquor.

Someone didn't do their research, however, because the state told me...

Thank you for your question. According to our Chief of Education, Licensing and Enforcement, Bill Goggins, there is no such law in Vermont. Liquor laws are very different from state to state; so, it very well could be that there are laws against requiring a membership to purchase alcohol in other states, but it appears that Vermont is not one of them.

Thank you,

Marcia

Marketing/Customer Service Supervisor

Vermont Department of Liquor Control

@sdennett:

good to know, I use the Waterbury one.... which doesn't sell it

But we can't even by alcohol on Sundays, so...yeah.

I'm cool with the Thin-Mint Malt Liquor, but everyone in this state should be embarrassed about the DD laws.

Here in the magical state of Washington, the sale of hard alcohol is restricted to state-run liquor stores, which means that we can't get those great prices at places like Costco. It's interesting to note, however, that Costco is challenging the state's monopoly in the courts.

I lived in Virginia (one of the states with ABC/state run liquor stores) for years and rarely drank liquor because it was prohibitively expensive.

Mid grade liquors were usually $35-50 in my area ABC store. My friends in DC, where they had independently owned stores could get the same things for $25-40. And in NYC the same things would be even less because of the amount of competition.

@Darascon: The liquor I buy is the same price/bottle as in the grocery stores, but Sam's has bigger bottles. So it depends on how much more liquor you're willing to drive for.

(oh, snap!)

My mother loves to tease friends she runs into in the liquor store on Sunday. She'll say, at the top of her lungs, "Betty Sue! What are YOU doing at the liquor store at 10 a.m. on a Sunday? Getting an early start?" It's funny because my mom's also obviously getting an early start. :P

I wish Texas had more simplified laws like Missouri, I can buy a bottle of Vodka on Sunday at a Wal-Mart.

However, my sister told me underage drinking was a BIG problem when she was in school in rural Missouri. The REAL problem was the kids knew all the cops (small town) and had a friend or two that jockeyed the register. So no wonder kids could get ahold of booze without getting caught.

@ChrisC1234: A lot of these states have separate entrances for the liquor store.

Umm...sweet?!

And I'm sure the warehouses really don't mind this because if you are in the stores buying the booze, you might be more likely to sign up for a membership after seeing the amazing amounts you can save on 25 lbs of ketchup.

Naturally, everyone who sees these signs goes immediately to church, where they should have been all along.

The highways on the Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky borders are flush with liquor stores.

We get a fraction of that money back when citizens of those states come to Indiana for the fireworks. Indiana made it illegal to detonate certain fireworks, but didn't outlaw the sale. So you can buy almost anything there, as long as you state the intent to set them off in a legal state or (recently) designated area.

There's not, though, much to be gained, as the state liquor control commission enforces minimum sale prices (entire catalogue is available on line with prices!) for all liquor (not beer or table wine). And many, many, many places already sell it at the state minimum.

Yay for backward society!

@George Gdovin: The Costco in Newark, DE also has a separate entrance, and they rarely have asked for my Costco card - and now I know why!

It would be nice for a Consumerist reporter to do a story about how 3 tiered distribution systems created by regulation protect the liquor industry from outside competitors. Instead of protecting the consumer, the consumer is force to purchase from what essentially is a liquor cartel. I've worked in both liquor service, as bartender, and retail at a liquor store and I've witnessed how the cartel operates to lock competitors out of the market and stick it to the consumer.

Where I am, the supermarket has a comprehensive liquor section and the prices are very reasonable. It's not really worth going to the club stores or the liquor warehouse (unless you need something really specific from the liquor warehouse). Where my parents are, even with comprehensive liquor in the supermarket, it's TOTALLY worth going to the Costco or the liquor discount warehouse. But they tend to do stock-ups a couple times a year at the cheap places instead of just dropping by for a bottle of wine or two. It's not worth the gas for that.

Minnesota Sam's Clubs all have signs about being able to buy booze without a membership. They also have separate entrances- but that's Minnesota state law.
Unfortunately, they don't sell beer in a 6-pack. And thier wine prices aren't always that great (aside from super popular stuff like Yellowtail).

Presumably in these states, the liquor license won't allow you to do "membership only" sales -- it's a general license or nothing. In states where alcohol has been at grocery stores for evers and evers, it seems to occur much less often.

Of course, if you had read the last paragraph of the post here, let alone the article, you'd have known this already.

I'm not sure if the law has changed, but when I was in college in Charleston, South Carolina, Sam's used to have a giant sign saying that you did not need a membership to buy either tobacco or alcohol in the state of South Carolina. There are a few Costco's in South Carolina. Maybe we can use the new, fancy factcheckers to see if there is a law on the books.

Connecticut Costco doesn't sell alcohol.

The "greeter" was uninformed about this policy and was super aggro. The veins in her temples looked about to rupture when I walked past her to the pharmacy.

That trip would definitely be more enjoyable with a buzz on.

Not sure about other states, but in Texas the same goes for prescription drugs...you don't have to have a membership to get them filled at Sam's or the other places.

You can also buy stuff from their cell phone kiosk in the store at Sam's. Its a subsidary of radio shack and usually has much better phones and you don't have to wait on rebates. I buy my phones outright from there.

Ironically it looks like it might actually do the opposite, but that's why most blue laws have been repealed, they're just dumb. My favorite repealed law here in MA was when liquor stores had to be closed on Sunday. This forced those who'd like to have a few drinks to drive to the bar and get drunk rather than doing so at home. Brilliant!

Im in Colorado and our local Costco has a seperate entrance for the liquor section and is available without a membership. The wine is much cheaper than a liquor stor and the hard alcohol is cheaper as well. The beer was about the same cost but they have mixed boxes from different breweries which I cant at local stores.

@George Gdovin: I found that over the holidays in a Sam's Club in Delaware as well.

Are the prices really worth the effort? I mean, I'm down with sticking it to the man and his "Members only" policy, but is going past a couple state/grocery/county stores to get to said warehouse worth the trip?

I have found that some of the finer quality cases of beer that can be found within CostCo are not always in the external liquor store which is ran by Western Beverages at my local location.

Great deals though for sure. I couldn't imagine buying the same amount of Makers Mark at a normal package store.