Massachusetts Residents: What are the rules for a Liquor ID?

8 comments

1. Bars and retail stores can deny out of state ids but most don’t.

2. A drivers license is typically what you give for identification. If you don’t have that or some type of identification with your picture and date of birth you won’t get served. That being said it’s up to individual bartenders and wait staff to ask and most will if you don’t look 21.

3. I (and friends and family) have purchased alcohol in Massachusetts on numerous occasions with an out-of-state driver’s license.

   A “liquor ID” is only for people who don’t have a driver’s license or another form of ID. All states (that I’m aware of) issue ID cards for people who don’t have a driver’s license.

4. My understanding is alcohol merchants have discretion in if to accept out of state IDs or not. Something to do with liability and underage sales I believe. I have personally been turned away from package liquor stores in Mass for having an out-of-state ID multiple times.

   So yes, there’s a chance you may be denied.

5. Technically they can just flat out deny an out of state license.

   Most don’t, but the TD Garden kinda infamously does more than usual.

6. If you are of legal age you are usually just fine.

   Bars and liquor stores can reject your out of state ID but they usually don’t. You can always bring a second form of ID like a passport but that’s a pain.

   I haven’t been rejected in yeeeears at this point.

   I suspect if you don’t look like an 18 year old you would be fine in MA.

   Also don’t break the law if you aren’t 21.

7. When I worked for a grocery store in Massachusetts we were told that it was state law to card everyone for alcohol sales, no matter how obviously old they looked. Store management heavily enforced this. But we took any form of government ID that had both a picture and a birthdate. A fishing permit? Sure whatever.

   That being said, a store or restaurant can refuse to sell you alcohol (or anything, for that matter) just because.

8. A Liquor ID card is unique to MA. It is *not* the same as a MA (non-driver) ID.

   The reason it exists is that under MA law, if a server/bartender checks a type of ID that’s on a list of approved IDs, and the purchaser turns out to be under age, then the server doesn’t have the same liability as they would from checking an ID that’s not on the approved list (or from not checking at all).

   Out of state IDs aren’t on the approved list. Passports and MA IDs are, as well as military IDs and some others. Many people misinterpret this rule as saying that it’s illegal for them to accept out of state ID. That’s wrong; it’s simply an increased risk to them. If you really are over 21 and the restaurant chooses to accept your out of state license as proof, then they’ve done nothing illegal. But if you’re under 21 and the restaurant/bar chose to rely on your out of state ID (which maybe you borrowed from a friend or sibling) and they get caught, they’re screwed.

   Boston has a lot of colleges, and hence a lot of people from out of state. Therefore there are many bars that won’t accept out of state IDs at all. It’s less common for restaurants to reject such IDs. But because many of those students are over 21 and because many of them don’t want to give up their license and residency from their home state, MA has invented a third type of ID called a Liquor ID. Unlike a driver’s license or State ID, you don’t need to be a MA resident to get a Liquor ID, but you do need to be over 21 (and you can’t have a MA license or State ID, but you can have an out of state license or out of state non-driver ID).

   If you want to know how common it is to have an out of state license rejected, please search r/Boston or maybe ask in r/Massachusetts or one of the other MA city subs. I almost never drink and haven’t been carded in decades.

   PS: It was much simpler in my youth when the NYS drinking age was 18 and camp counselors just borrowed draft cards, because neither draft cards nor licenses had photos.