BYOP - by geographical location

[Roy Hersh]

As we have many folks here from different parts of the world, it would be great to hear, what policies are like, in terms of being able to bring in your own bottle of Port (or wine) to local restaurants. Here, each state has its own rule. In some state's like Texas, you can have one county that is 100% "dry" while the one next to it has beer, wine and liquor sold freely.

But I'd rather concentrate on the restaurant trade; to learn what takes place where you live. Please let us know if there is a hard and fast rule in your area, or what an "insider" is allowed. Thanks.

[Todd Pettinger]

We have a corkage rule in Alberta (province of Canada for some of you who may not know, like a State in the US) that just came into effect a few years ago. You can bring your own bottle of wine/Port to a restaurant and are charged a nominal fee per bottle, to make up for (presumably) profit lost from the restaurant not selling you a bottle of their overpriced schlep.

I do not eat out in a fancy enough restaurant often enough to be of statistical relevance, but I almost never see anyone bring a bottle of their own wine to a restaurant. Perhaps I would if I had a particularly special/important occasion and could not trust that an appropriately stored bottle is available.

When I visited Colorado Springs a couple of months ago, the bar in the hotel I stayed at were intrigued by the notion of a corkage fee. (I asked to borrow a couple of their glasses to serve a couple of bottles of Colheita that had their T-caps smashed in transit to the hotel and I feared would not make it home on the plane.) They had never heard of such a fee and I ended up simply tipping the bartender a very generous amount for the use of a couple of glasses and a smile. :)

Todd

[Moses Botbol]

Boston

You are unable to bring you own alcohol to a restaurant that sells alcohol. They can only serve alcohol bought from a distributor. They can not even use liquor sold from a B&M.

Some restaurants that do not serve alcohol will allow you to bring your own, but it is often done "under-the-table" and I do not know the actual law behind it.

Other town and cities in MA do have "bring your own" restaurants.

[Derek T.]

The UK has the same corkage arrangement as Todd describes in Alberta. Typical charges range from £5-£20 per bottle depending on how upmarket the restaurant is and how well you know the staff

I have come across one restaurant in London recently who charge full wine list price if you bring in a bottle that they have on their list. This makes no real sense as you may as well leave your own bottle at home, buy one of the list and then drink the other one some other time. But I have only seen this once.

We also have some "bring your own" restaurants but these tend to be new businesses who have not yet been awarded a license to sell alcohol.

Derek

[Todd Pettinger]

I don't want to side-track the discussion here into anything else, but I was curious about this particular comment:

We also have some "bring your own" restaurants but these tend to be new businesses who have not yet been awarded a license to sell alcohol.

In my province, and I am pretty sure all the others, you need a liquor license to be able to serve alcohol at all. If you didn't have one, people would not be able to bring their own (or even consume on site.)
Are you saying that people can bring their own alcohol to drink, if the restaurant does not have a license to sell? Do they need a separate license to sell as to allow patrons to consume on site?

[Jay Powers]

In California, it's usually OK, and even expected, that you bring your own. Corkage is typically ~US$25. We often bring a red, and buy a white to start.

Jay

[JacobH]

I don't want to side-track the discussion here into anything else, but I was curious about this particular comment:

We also have some "bring your own" restaurants but these tend to be new businesses who have not yet been awarded a license to sell alcohol.

In my province, and I am pretty sure all the others, you need a liquor license to be able to serve alcohol at all. If you didn't have one, people would not be able to bring their own (or even consume on site.)
Are you saying that people can bring their own alcohol to drink, if the restaurant does not have a license to sell? Do they need a separate license to sell as to allow patrons to consume on site?

Yes; it’s generally only necessary to have a licence to sell alcohol and so BYO places are usually referred to as “unlicensed”. As Derek says, there aren’t many of these. There are a small number near me (which are either Vietnamese or Indian places) and I think they do get some extra trade because people can have a decent bottle of wine without paying a 300% markup. I suppose that’s why they don’t bother with a licence as one to sell alcohol during standard restaurant hours with food is pretty straight-forward to get.