[Westerntraveler]

Will liquor stores and restaurants accept a verticle Texas drivers license for proof of age to buy booze?I'm 21.I went to a place in New Mexico that would not accept my ID and I heard that some places in different states wont accept out of state IDs.Thanks.
P.S.
I would buy the alcohol in Fort Smith.We might also go to Northwest Arkansas.

[FriendlyFeller45]

I doubt it unless you try to buy it on a Sunday.
Most liquor stores seem to close at around 10pm, I don't know if its a law or what. Gas stations stop selling beer/wine at 1pm except on sunday morning/saturday night it will be at midnight.
If you do have a problem (which I doubt) just go to the next place and try there.

[jim9251]

You won't have a problem at all except on Sunday and in Benton County.

[DC at the Ridge]

Arkansas is pretty agreeable about accepting out-of-state ID's for liquor purchases, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you do visit Northwest Arkansas, bear in mind that Benton County is a dry county, but Washington County, where Fayetteville is, is a wet county. Both counties have numerous restaurants that serve alcohol, but Washington County has liquor stores while Benton County does not.

[gthog61]

Arkansas Wet/Dry Counties - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

lots of dry counties, map says 2010, if someplace you see says dry check it out in particular

[nmnita]

You shouldn't have much trouble unless you get into a dry county area which are becoming fewer every year. Almost all of Ar is now wet, even Benton Co will probably go wet this fall. A Texas license will be all you need.

[Westerntraveler]

Update:i had no trouble buying a margarita in Fort Smith tonite.

[gemstone1]

A look at this map, and you'll see how much control the preachers still wield in Arkansas....stay outta the red and you can legally buy liquor. Dry counties

I used to travel over 100 miles round trip in the 70's in Searcy county...doesn't look like much has changed in 40 years...don't know if that's good or bad, but it does look like they are standing still...

Regards
Gemstone1

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

A look at this map, and you'll see how much control the preachers still wield in Arkansas....stay outta the red and you can legally buy liquor. Dry counties

I used to travel over 100 miles round trip in the 70's in Searcy county...doesn't look like much has changed in 40 years...don't know if that's good or bad, but it does look like they are standing still...

Regards
Gemstone1

Just to fill you in on a couple of things: I don't know if the map is updated or not, but in the 2010 election 3 more counties went wet and now, probably Benton Co will do the same. It is not totally the Bible Belt attitude, in fact it is very litttle that, it really has a lot to do with money, some very influrntial people, that own liquior stores or businesses in other areas, especially the border states have kept some counties dry. This is something many people do not understand, I didn't for years. It wasn't til we moved to AR it was better explained to us.. You are right, back in the 70s the churches were the ones that contolled the sale or lack of same... We had the same situation when we lived in Texas. The city we lived in was dry but all the surrounding areas were wet. The amount of tax money lost to our city was unbelievable, especially considering we were surrounded by wet cities. One, very large church with a very influentual pastor managed to keep the city dry. Eventually, shortly after we moved, in 2001 the city did go wet, but only beer and wine. At least it was better than nothing.

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Just to fill you in on a couple of things:

Nita is right. It ain't the bible, it's the money trail.

The border liquor distributers and the wet counties pour huge amounts of money into keeping the dry counties dry. The more dry counties they have around, the more cash flow.

I was a private club license holder for a few years, and the state makes a lot more revenue off of a dry county "club" than they do a wet county bar. As I had mentioned in a previous post, when it comes to the state, to paraphrase a current saying, "Yeah...there's a charge for that".

To add to it, no private club owner wants a county to go wet, because that's a huge hit to their business.

The politics are crazy.