The following table of alcohol laws of the United States provides an overview of alcohol-related laws by state throughout the US. This list is not intended to provide a breakdown of such laws by local jurisdiction within a state; see that state's alcohol laws page for more detailed information.
As of July 1988, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had a minimum purchase age of 21, with some grandfather clauses. Prior to 1988, the minimum purchase age varied by jurisdiction. After Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in July 1984, states not in compliance had a portion of their federal highway funding withheld. South Dakota and Wyoming were the final two states to comply, in mid-1988.
Unlike on the mainland, the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a minimum purchase age of 18. The minimum purchase age is 21 in the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.
U.S. military reservations are exempt under federal law from state, county and locally enacted alcohol beverage laws. Class Six stores in a Base Exchange facility, an Officers' and/or NCO clubs as well as other military commissaries which are located on a military reservation may sell and serve alcohol beverages at any time during their prescribed hours of operation to authorized patrons¹.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, alcohol, law, united and/or states:
“In the United States there’s a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
—Bible: New Testament, Galatians 6:2.
“The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“How many people in the United States do you think will be willing to go to war to free Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania?”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)