Alcohol laws of Missouri

A bar in Downtown Kansas City advertising "Liquors by drink or package," meaning that it is licensed as both a bar and liquor store.

Missouri has no specific state limitations on the places where alcohol may be sold "off-premises" (i.e. for consumption elsewhere). As a result, Missouri is famous in the region for grocery stores, drug stores, and even gas stations throughout the state which sell a wide variety of beer, wine, and liquor. As long as it is not located within 100 feet (30 m) of a school or church,[20] virtually any retail business (including a vague and undefined "general merchandise store") which obtains the proper licenses from the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and local authorities may sell any type of alcohol.[21] State law even forbids a local option and prohibits cities and counties from banning the off-premises sale of alcohol.[22]

Missouri does, however, limit the hours of retail alcohol sales to between 6:00 AM and 1:30 AM Monday through Saturday,[23] and – for an additional license fee – between 6:00 AM and 1:30 AM on Sunday (beginning August 28, 2021).[24]

Most municipalities, including St. Louis[25] and Kansas City[26] have enacted local laws following the state law, which prohibit the retail sale of liquor between 1:30 AM and 6:00 AM Tuesday through Saturday, and between midnight on Sunday and 9:00 AM the following morning. Sunday hours will changed to the same hours as weekdays on August 28, 2021.

No Missouri law prohibits establishments from holding both off-premises and on-premises licenses. As a result, some businesses are licensed to sell liquor both "by the drink" (individually for consumption on premises) and "by the package" (by the container for consumption off premises). Effectively, these are bars which double as liquor stores. In these places, off-premises sales are allowed until 1:30 a.m., even in those in St. Louis and Kansas City specially licensed to serve liquor by the drink until 3:00 a.m. (on-premises sales may continue until 3:00, but off-premises sales must cease by 1:30).

Generally, the hours for sales of liquor by the drink (for consumption on the premises) are the same as liquor by the package: between 6:00 AM and 1:30 AM Monday through Sunday,[23][24] State law allows incorporated cities to prohibit the on-premises sale of liquor by public referendum,[27] although no city in Missouri ever has held such a referendum. The on-premises sale of liquor is allowed throughout the state, without any limitation except for the hours when sale is permitted.

Since 1981, properly licensed establishments with certain levels of annual revenue in Kansas City,[28] Jackson County,[28] North Kansas City,[28] St. Louis,[29] and St. Louis County[30] have been permitted to sell liquor by the drink between 6:00 AM and 3:00 AM Mondays through Sunday.

To ship alcohol into Missouri in quantities greater than five gallons, both the commercial carrier doing the shipping and the sender itself must obtain a "transporter's license" from the Missouri Department of Revenue and pay the necessary licensing fees.[31] Additionally, for such shipments, the commercial carrier must be generally licensed to do business by the Department of Economic Development.[32] In practice, ordinary commercial shippers like FedEx and UPS have the necessary licenses.

An alcohol retailer licensed in Missouri or in any other state which has similar, "reciprocal" wine-shipping laws may ship up to two cases of wine each year to any Missouri resident over the age of 21, provided that the wine is for personal use and not for resale.[33] Such a delivery is deemed not to be a sale in Missouri.[33]

Missouri allows wine manufacturers licensed in any state to obtain a "wine direct shipper license" from the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, which allows them to ship up to two cases of wine per month directly to any individual in Missouri who is at least 21 years old.[34] Unlike shipments under the "reciprocal" provision, for shipments under this provision, the wine manufacturer must use a licensed alcohol carrier.[34]

Skyline of St. Louis, Missouri, where, as in most of Missouri, passengers (but not drivers) may possess open containers and drink openly in moving vehicles

Although a driver is prohibited from consuming alcohol while driving,[35] Missouri has no general open container law for vehicles, a characteristic which Missouri shares only with the states of Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Virginia, and West Virginia.[36] Any non-driving vehicle passenger thus is permitted to possess an open container and consume alcohol in Missouri while the vehicle is in motion, although 31 smaller municipalities, the largest being Columbia, Independence and St. Charles, have local open container laws.[37] The metropolises of St. Louis (except St. Charles) and Kansas City (except Independence) have no local open container laws, and thus the state law (or lack thereof) governs.[37] This makes it possible for a passenger to drink legally through the entire 250-mile (400 km) trip across Missouri on Interstate 70 between Downtown Kansas City and Downtown St. Louis, only closing the container while passing through the city limits of Independence, Bates City, Columbia, Foristell, and St. Charles.[37]

As a result of having no state open container laws, under the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century of 1999, a percentage of Missouri's federal highway funds is transferred instead to alcohol education programs each year.[37][38] Since 1999, the Missouri General Assembly has considered several bills which would have created open container regimens satisfying the federal law, but each one "failed due to weak legislative support."[37] Anheuser-Busch leads opposition to enacting a passenger open container law.[3]

Missouri also is one of only six states (along with Georgia, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, and Pennsylvania) which has no state law prohibiting drinking in public, although an establishment selling liquor by the drink ordinarily may not permit a patron to take unfinished liquor off the premises.[39] Restaurant and winery patrons, though, may take unfinished bottles of wine out of the restaurant or winery, provided that the containers are closed and placed in sealed bags.[39]

Missouri has no state public intoxication law either, unlike many other states, and state law expressly prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting any law "which authorizes or requires arrest or punishment for public intoxication or being a common or habitual drunkard or alcoholic."[40]

It is a misdemeanor in Missouri, however, to be both intoxicated and disorderly or to consume or offer any alcoholic beverage specifically in any school, church, or courthouse.[41] Consumption and offering in courthouses is permitted, though, at social functions after business hours when authorized by the court.[41]

Despite the lack of a general state law prohibiting drinking in public, nearly all municipalities, including both St. Louis[42] and Kansas City,[43] do prohibit drinking in public. St. Louis, however, does allow picnickers in public parks to consume alcohol without limitation.[44]

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, where open containers have been allowed in the street in certain areas since the spring of 2008

In 2005, anticipating Kansas City's new Power & Light District, a nine-block shopping, bar, and restaurant entertainment district in Downtown Kansas City, and after lobbying by the Cordish Company of Baltimore (the District's developer), the Missouri General Assembly passed a new law specifically allowing patrons of any "entertainment district" in Downtown Kansas City to remove any alcoholic beverage from any establishment in the district and carry it openly throughout the district, provided that the beverage is in a plastic cup marked with the logo of the establishment at which it was purchased.[45][46][47]

The City Council later legalized the possession of an open container in any portion not open to vehicular traffic of the Power & Light District, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Crossroads Arts District, the 18th and Vine Historic District, the Liberty Memorial, Crown Center, and the Union Hill neighborhood.[48] The Power & Light District opened in the spring of 2008, and no law prohibits drinking there "in the street."[47] It is one of only a few places in the United States where open containers are allowed in public.

Missouri's drinking age has been 21 since 1945.[51] That is, Missouri law prohibits minors from possessing or purchasing alcohol. Thus, when the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 came into effect on January 1, 1985, Missouri was in no danger of losing federal highway funds.

A minor in possession (MIP) of alcohol or a business or person which furnishes alcohol to a minor is guilty of a misdemeanor, although for sellers there are numerous defenses and exceptions.[54] Missouri is one of six states, however, with a unique exception which allows a minor to be furnished alcohol by their parent or guardian.[54] Of course, if a parent or guardian purposefully intoxicated their child, it would be a form of child abuse. Rather, this sort of law allows parents to let their children have a small amount of liquor with a meal, at social gatherings, in religious services, or otherwise use alcohol in moderation. Additionally, although Missouri prohibits minors from possessing or purchasing alcohol, it is one of 20 states (and the District of Columbia) which have no specific law prohibiting the consumption of alcohol by minors.

In 2005, though, the Missouri General Assembly amended the Liquor Control Law to prohibit any minor from having a blood alcohol level higher than .02%.[54] This new law has been referred to as "Possession by Consumption". It remains unclear how the provision permitting family consumption, the lack of a specific consumption prohibition, and the new "minor under the influence" law will work together.

Since 2005, Missouri law has had a special method of expungement for a person who pleaded guilty to or was convicted of being a minor in possession of alcohol one time in Missouri. If more than a year has passed since said person turns twenty-one, and said person has had no other MIP expungements and has had no other alcohol-related law enforcement contacts (like drunk driving or violating the terms of a liquor license), then all records of the case can be completely deleted upon proper application to the Circuit Court of the county in which the person was charged.[55]

In Missouri, it is only a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine for a person under 21 to represent by virtue of displaying a fake ID that they are over 21 for the purposes of purchasing or possessing alcohol.[56] Additionally, it constitutes a separate misdemeanor under the Liquor Control Law if the minor reproduced or altered the ID themself,[57] punishable by up to one year in prison[58] and/or a fine of up to $1,000.[59]

The forgery of an identity document is a separate felony in Missouri,[60] punishable by up to seven years in prison[58] and/or a fine of up to $5,000 (or if financial gain was made, up to the amount of that financial gain).[59] Possession of forgery instruments also is a felony with the same prospective punishments as that of ordinary forgery.[61]