Beer, wine, and liquor are readily available in Wisconsin (except in a couple of small towns). But state law prohibits carryout sales after 9 p.m., while bars can remain open until 2 a.m.
This means that from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m., you can’t buy beer to take home. You have to sit on a bar stool and drink it in the tavern. In other words, state law encourages impaired driving.
That’s stupid, but Wisconsin’s liquor laws have a long and convoluted history (read about them here), and they are what they are.
During the pandemic, the GOP-dominated Wisconsin legislature saw fit to lighten up a bit and let businesses sell single drinks under seal for off-premises consumption, and now there’s bipartisan support for making that permanent (read story here). What they ought to do, if they have any brains, is let retailers sell wine and beer until the bars close, so people can buy it, take it home, and drink it after they get home.
Or they could bring back Prohibition. But that didn’t work the first time, and won’t next time.
Photo below: This fatal DUI crash in Milwaukee occurred at 3 a.m. on July 4, 2015. Photo above: Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone’s former hideout at Cranberry Lake, Wisconsin; illicit liquor paid for this house.
