Alcohol sales after 9pm

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

I always hated the 9pm cut-off. Thank god for Vic Pierce, which sells until 12pm. It's not that far of a drive, either.

Vic Pierce Liquor - Reviews - BeerAdvocate

Yeah, I always used to go to Vic Pierce in Maple Bluff after 9:00. And this is quite obviously in Dane County, so the law is not a county law. It just seems to be popular with municipalities around Madison for some reason (but thankfully not Maple Bluff).

[craptacular]

Originally Posted by Drover

There's a loophole around this where a tavern that has an attached package retail store can sell package liquor until tavern closing hours. I don't know if you'll find any place like this in Dane County; it's more common in rural parts of the state. And yes, this loophole should tell you all you need to know about who's responsible for such a ridiculously early cutoff time for package sales in such an otherwise alcohol-friendly state -- except, of course, at package retail shops that happen to double as taverns.

Does it really need to have an "attached package retail store"? Two reasons for this question, although the examples are from 8 to 15 years ago, and things may have changed. I had a job at a bar / restaurant for a couple of years in high school, and I know they sold packaged beer from the bar after normal alcohol sales in the stores were prohibited, at a higher price of course. They certainly did not have any sort of attached store. Also, in the early 2000s, there were three "kids" (18-21?) that were killed in a car crash in Madison on their way back from a town bar where they went to buy more beer to bring back to a party. I believe the bar has since been demolished due to the Hwy 12 expansion, but I don't recall them having a store either.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by craptacular

Does it really need to have an "attached package retail store"? Two reasons for this question, although the examples are from 8 to 15 years ago, and things may have changed. I had a job at a bar / restaurant for a couple of years in high school, and I know they sold packaged beer from the bar after normal alcohol sales in the stores were prohibited, at a higher price of course. They certainly did not have any sort of attached store. Also, in the early 2000s, there were three "kids" (18-21?) that were killed in a car crash in Madison on their way back from a town bar where they went to buy more beer to bring back to a party. I believe the bar has since been demolished due to the Hwy 12 expansion, but I don't recall them having a store either.

After further review of the law, it appears that the state cutoff for package sales is 12:00am. State law allows local governments to establish earlier cutoff times. An establishment can have both a tavern license and a retail package license. Those that have both are only at liberty to sell package liquor until 12AM even if their tavern license allows them to serve for on-premise consumption until 2AM. Apparently some towns allow dual tavern/retail establishments to sell up to midnight even if they require package-only retail only stores to close earlier (say, 9PM). In Madison, retail package sales close at 9pm no matter what, which is why brewpubs like Great Dane can't sell growlers after 9:00pm. Not only that but if you buy a growler before then and 9pm is approaching, they will make you take it out of the building.