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Silly state laws

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holycontagion

NewBee
Registered Member
May 15, 2008
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Hello there. I live in Massachusetts and it's illegal to import wines/beers directly from out of state wineries to residential addresses, this basically means I can't order meads from the internet. The reasoning behind this legislation is suspect at best and I won't get into it here as I'm sure it's old news and rather infuriating.

In order to import one must have some sort of liquor license but even in that case most distributors will not sell to you unless you're a restaurant or a package store. I'm thinking about ordering a case of Redstone traditional mead (my store has an account with a distributor who carries it) and it's a gamble since I've never tried it so we'll see about that! I'd hate to end up with a case of something I don't like :-\

Anyway I'm wondering if anyone would have suggestions on clever ways to get around my problem here. I've considered driving to Rhode Island to open up a PO box since I could drive there in ~50 minutes but I have a suspicion most meaderies wouldn't ship to PO boxes. I have my first 5 gallon batch of show mead bubbling away with plans to start two more very shortly but I'm impatient and desire to imbibe the goodness while I wait for mine to finish. Any suggestions from the community would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! :cheers:
 
holycontagion said:
I've considered driving to Rhode Island to open up a PO box since I could drive there in ~50 minutes but I have a suspicion most meaderies wouldn't ship to PO boxes.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. It's illegal to ship alcohol through the postal system. Having said that, there are companies that basically provide the private equivalent to a PO box (think UPS Store). Perhaps there's one nearby. These companies will accept packages on your behalf from all the private carriers. The one thing you'll have to check is how they handle the ID situation since the carrier is supposed to check ID before giving you the package.
 
Thanks for the idea Jt852. I'll definitely search for a UPS store just across the border :toothy10:
 
Yeah, most of the wineries that I have ordered wine from will not ship to a postal box. I used to get wine shipped, since it was illegal to ship it into Michigan at the time, to friends in either Illinois, or Ohio, and then go visit them and share it.
 
A great site to learn about the issues with shipping/transporting/buying alcohol between States is Free the Grapes. It is also a good starting point to contact your State Legislator to try to make changes to the laws.

The U.S. is supposed to be a free economy without restrictions between States, and where the government actually protects the consumer from monopolies. But it is that same government that has created barriers between free trade and empowered a monopoly by creating laws that protect the distributors and hurt the consumer.

Angus
 
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