Getting Bourbon from the internet

[BourbonGuy]

What states do not allow you to order bourbon and get it by FedEx, UPS or mail. I see a number of guys asking about getting a particular bourbon they are looking for. When I gave on guy a site he replied that he couldn’t do that where he lived.

[soad]

From The Party Source:

Shipping States for Alcohol BeveragesWe currently ship only to the following: Alabama (AL), Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), District of Columbia (DC), Florida* (FL), Georgia (GA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Louisiana (LA), Maine (ME), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Nebraska (NE), Nevada (NV), New Mexico (NM), New York (NY), North Carolina (NC), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Vermont (VT), Virginia (VA), Washington (WA), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), and Wyoming (WY).

*Florida (FL): We are prohibited from shipping to the following counties: Lafayette County, Liberty County, Madison County, Suwannee County, and Washington County.

https://www.thepartysource.com/express/shopShipInfo.php

[wadewood]

There are 2 parts to this question. soad answered the 1st, which is what states will typically internet retailer ship to. However, the 2nd part is the legality in your state. if you go to the Party Source website, or probably all internet retailers, you will the fine print basically says the sale takes place in their state and you are taking the risk and basically shipping it yourself. You would need to look at your own state laws about bringing in alcohol, but I will tell you that most prohibit it.

So my point is just because someone will ship to your state, does not mean it is legal for you to do so. Odds are probably very low anything would happen to you (maybe forced to pay your state Taxes?), but there is risk.

[BourbonGuy]

So is the reason Taxes or something else? You can order a tactical shotgun through the mail, but not bourbon?

[Kalessin]

Reasons I can think of are primarily taxes, and possibly state supplier protection for control states, and distributor protection for non-control states, and retail protection for non-control-state retailers. Anything else anyone can think of?

[squire]

Not just taxes, legislative restrictions. In control States all liquor sales must go through the ABC and circumventing that process for a retail sale is illegal. Potential fine and court costs.

[berto]

So is the reason Taxes or something else? You can order a tactical shotgun through the mail, but not bourbon?

[ILLfarmboy]

Taxes and liquor control laws. I can have bourbon shipped to me in CA but that shotgun has to go through a FFL. QUOTE]

Glad someone cleared that up. There's a lot of mis-information regarding such things these days.

That (F)ederal (F)irearms (L)icence is a federal dealers license. It is the firearm equivalent of a liquor license.

[GaryT]

Wade hit the nail on the head - I've seen different sites that list different states they are willing to ship to - mostly based on who the state holds responsible (or maybe based on whether they have any entity in that state - if not, it may be difficult to prosecute them for the shipment!) But - I've seen FedEx deliver a package with a huge label slapped on it stating it had alcohol in a state which prohibited alcohol sales (not saying which, but just saying I got the impression that they didn't much care).

[ILLfarmboy]

Wade hit the nail on the head - I've seen different sites that list different states they are willing to ship to - mostly based on who the state holds responsible (or maybe based on whether they have any entity in that state - if not, it may be difficult to prosecute them for the shipment!) But - I've seen FedEx deliver a package with a huge label slapped on it stating it had alcohol in a state which prohibited alcohol sales (not saying which, but just saying I got the impression that they didn't much care).

Sounds like this could be someone's next moral crusade.

Edited December 29, 2012 by ILLfarmboy