Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 545 - Liquor Control Act
Section 30-20. - Package store permit. Grocery store beer permit.

(a) A package store permit shall allow the retail sale of alcoholic liquor not to be consumed on the premises, such sales to be made only in sealed bottles or other containers. The holder of a package store permit may, in accordance with regulations adopted by the Department of Consumer Protection pursuant to the provisions of chapter 54, offer free samples of alcoholic liquor for tasting on the premises, conduct fee-based wine education and tasting classes and demonstrations and conduct tastings or demonstrations provided by a permittee or backer of a package store for a nominal charge to charitable nonprofit organizations. Any offering, tasting, wine education and tasting class or demonstration held on permit premises shall be conducted only during the hours a package store is permitted to sell alcoholic liquor under section 30-91. No tasting of wine on the premises shall be offered from more than ten uncorked bottles at any one time. No store operating under a package store permit shall sell any commodity other than alcoholic liquor except that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, such store may sell (1) cigarettes and cigars, (2) publications, (3) bar utensils, which shall include, but need not be limited to, corkscrews, beverage strainers, stirrers or other similar items used to consume or related to the consumption of alcoholic liquor, (4) gift packages of alcoholic liquor shipped into the state by a manufacturer or out-of-state shipper, which may include a nonalcoholic item in the gift package that may be any item, except food or tobacco products, provided the dollar value of the nonalcoholic items does not exceed the dollar value of the alcoholic items of the package, (5) complementary fresh fruits used in the preparation of mixed alcoholic beverages, (6) cheese or crackers, or both, (7) olives, (8) nonalcoholic beverages, (9) concentrates used in the preparation of mixed alcoholic beverages, (10) beer and wine-making kits and products related to beer and wine-making kits, (11) ice in any form, (12) articles of clothing imprinted with advertising related to the alcoholic liquor industry, (13) gift baskets or other containers of alcoholic liquor, (14) multiple packages of alcoholic liquors, as defined in subdivision (3) of section 30-1, provided in all such cases the minimum retail selling price for such alcoholic liquor shall apply, (15) lottery tickets authorized by the Department of Consumer Protection, if licensed as an agent to sell such tickets by said department, (16) devices and related accessories designed primarily for accessing and extracting a beverage containing alcohol from prepackaged containers, including pods, pouches or similar containers, but excluding devices that are not designed primarily for such purposes, including, but not limited to, household blenders, (17) alcohol-infused confections containing not more than one-half of one per cent of alcohol by weight approved for sale by the commissioner under section 21a-101, and (18) gift baskets containing only containers of alcoholic liquor and commodities authorized for sale under subdivisions (1) to (17), inclusive, of this subsection. A package store permit shall also allow the taking and transmitting of orders for delivery of such merchandise in other states. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a package store permit shall allow the participation in any lottery ticket promotion or giveaway sponsored by the Department of Consumer Protection. The annual fee for a package store permit shall be five hundred thirty-five dollars.

(b) A grocery store beer permit may be granted to any grocery store and shall allow the retail sale of beer in standard size containers not to be consumed on the premises. A holder of a grocery store beer permit shall post in a prominent location adjacent to the beer display, the retail price for each brand of beer and said retail price shall include all applicable federal and state taxes including the applicable state sales taxes. The annual fee for a grocery store beer permit shall be one hundred seventy dollars. For a grocery store that has annual sales of food and grocery items of not less than two million dollars the annual fee for a grocery store beer permit shall be one thousand five hundred dollars.
(c) “Grocery store” means any store commonly known as a supermarket, food store, grocery store or delicatessen, primarily engaged in the retail sale of all sorts of canned goods and dry goods such as tea, coffee, spices, sugar and flour, either packaged or in bulk, with or without fresh fruits and vegetables, and with or without fresh, smoked and prepared meats, fish and poultry, except that no store primarily engaged in the retail sale of seafood, fruits and vegetables, candy, nuts and confectioneries, dairy products, bakery products or eggs and poultry shall be included in the definition of “grocery store”.
(1949 Rev., S. 4242; 1951, S. 2157d; 1963, P.A. 274, S. 2; 485; February, 1965, P.A. 479; 1967, P.A. 230, S. 1; 347, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 294; 1971, P.A. 747, S. 2; 1972, P.A. 41, S. 1; P.A. 73-300; P.A. 75-259, S. 2, 8; 75-641, S. 4; P.A. 78-49; P.A. 79-404, S. 39, 45; P.A. 80-482, S. 342, 343, 345, 348; P.A. 81-367, S. 3, 9; P.A. 82-332, S. 2, 13; P.A. 84-78; 84-350, S. 1; P.A. 87-69, S. 1, 2; P.A. 90-32; P.A. 91-353, S. 2, 7; P.A. 93-52; 93-139, S. 14; P.A. 95-115, S. 1; 95-195, S. 23, 83; P.A. 96-7, S. 4, 5; P.A. 00-24; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(d); P.A. 04-169, S. 17; 04-189, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3, S. 334; P.A. 11-51, S. 182; 11-81, S. 6; P.A. 12-17, S. 5; P.A. 13-11, S. 1; P.A. 14-22, S. 1; P.A. 15-24, S. 9; P.A. 21-37, S. 105; 21-50, S. 2.)
History: 1963 acts reworded Subsec. (c) substituting “grocery store as defined in subdivision (21) of section 30-1” for “store which is chiefly engaged in the sale of groceries” and specified that sale of “gift baskets or other containers of alcoholic liquor” is allowed in Subsec. (a); 1965 act substituted “alcoholic liquor and nonalcoholic beverages” for “alcoholic and nonalcoholic liquor” in Subsec. (a); 1967 acts specified that sale of concentrates used in mixed drinks and ice is allowed and that taking and transmitting of orders for delivery of merchandise in other states is allowed under package store permit in Subsec. (a); 1969 act permitted sale of multiple packages of still and sparkling wines in Subsec. (a); 1971 act changed wording in Subsec. (a) for clarity; 1972 act permitted sale of lottery tickets by stores operating under package store permits in Subsec. (a); P.A. 73-300 required posting of beer prices in Subsec. (c); P.A. 75-259 added references to containers sized by milliliters in Subsec. (a); P.A. 75-641 deleted reference to “subdivision (2)” of Sec. 30-1 in Subsec. (c); P.A. 78-49 added provision authorizing sale of cigarettes, bar utensils and gift packages in Subsec. (a); P.A. 79-404 replaced reference to state lottery division of commission on special revenue with reference to division of special revenue within the department of business regulation in Subsec. (a); P.A. 80-482 placed division of special revenue within the department of revenue services for administrative purposes only, deleting reference to abolished department of business regulation; P.A. 81-367 deleted Subsec. (b) re package store beer permit and relettered Subsec. (c) accordingly; P.A. 82-332 eliminated minimum container sizes; P.A. 84-78 allowed package stores to sell publications; P.A. 84-350 amended Subsec. (a) by allowing holders of package store permits to offer free samples of wine, cordials and new products, and to conduct demonstrations and tastings; P.A. 87-69 amended Subsec. (a) by removing the time limitation on conducting tastings and certain demonstrations; P.A. 90-32 amended section to allow holders of permits to sell articles of clothing with advertising related to alcohol; P.A. 91-353 amended Subsec. (a) to authorize package store permittees to offer free samples of beer brewed in this state by a holder of a manufacturer permit as defined in Sec. 30-16; P.A. 93-52 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute reference to sales of multiple packages of alcoholic liquors as defined in Sec. 30-1 for sales of multiple packages of still and sparkling wines; P.A. 93-139 made technical changes, added the annual fee for a package store permit and grocery store beer permit and added Subsec. (c) defining “grocery store”; P.A. 95-115 amended Subsec. (a) to permit the sale of beer and wine-making kits and products related to such kits, inserted revised Subdiv. indicators, and added provision authorizing holders of package store permits to participate in lottery ticket promotions and giveaways; P.A. 95-195 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute Department of Consumer Protection for Department of Liquor Control, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-7 amended Subsec. (a) to broaden range of samples package store permit holders may offer, substituting “alcoholic liquor” for specified types of beverages, effective April 2, 1996; P.A. 00-24 amended Subsec. (a)(4) to allow gift packages to contain certain nonalcoholic items; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 and P.A. 04-169 replaced Department of Consumer Protection with Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3 increased fee in Subsec. (a) from $400 to $500 and increased fee in Subsec. (b) from $80 to $160; pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “Division of Special Revenue” and “division” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Department of Consumer Protection” and “department”, respectively, in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 11-81 amended Subsec. (a) by increasing annual package store permit fee from $500 to $535 and deleting “plus the sum required by section 30-66” and amended Subsec. (b) by increasing annual grocery store beer permit fee from $160 to $170 and deleting “plus the sum required by section 30-66”; P.A. 12-17 amended Subsec. (a) by authorizing fee-based wine education and tasting classes, expanding permitted sales items to include complementary fresh fruits used in the preparation of mixed alcoholic beverages, cheese, crackers and olives and making technical changes and amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re permit fee of $1,500 for grocery stores with annual sales of not less than $2,000,000, effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 13-11 amended Subsec. (a) by adding provision prohibiting wine tasting on premises from being offered from more than 10 uncorked bottles at one time, effective May 17, 2013; P.A. 14-22 amended Subsec. (a) to add Subdiv. (15) re gift baskets containing only containers of alcoholic liquor and commodities authorized for sale under Subdivs. (1) to (14), effective May 16, 2014; P.A. 15-24 amended Subsec. (a) by adding “and cigars” in Subdiv. (1), designating reference to olives as new Subdiv. (7), redesignating existing Subdivs. (7) to (15) as Subdivs. (8) to (16), and making a technical change, effective June 4, 2015; P.A. 21-37 amended Subsec. (a) by adding new Subdiv. (16) re devices and accessories for accessing and extracting alcoholic beverages and redesignating existing Subdiv. (16) as Subdiv. (17), effective July 1, 2021; P.A. 21-50 amended Subsec. (a) by adding Subdiv. (16), codified by the Revisors as Subdiv. (17) re alcohol-infused confections, redesignating existing Subdiv. (16) as Subdiv. (18) and making a conforming change, effective July 1, 2021.

Structure Connecticut General Statutes