Did Iowa's beer ABV limit change?
December 31, 2009 4:56 PM Subscribe
Did something change with Iowa's ABV limits on beers?
My understanding was that in Iowa, anything over 5% had to be sold through the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, and was then stickered and sold to stores, which ended up with a high markup. Recently I noticed all manner of higher ABV beers (7%-9%, such as Chimay Ale) being sold at a local HyVee liquor store, seemingly with no sticker and not being sold at a ridiculous price. Any Iowan MeFites have any insight into this? I googled the hell out of this with no luck, and typical places like Lift the Limit have not changed the contents of their page. I'm not complaining, that's for sure!
My understanding was that in Iowa, anything over 5% had to be sold through the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, and was then stickered and sold to stores, which ended up with a high markup. Recently I noticed all manner of higher ABV beers (7%-9%, such as Chimay Ale) being sold at a local HyVee liquor store, seemingly with no sticker and not being sold at a ridiculous price. Any Iowan MeFites have any insight into this? I googled the hell out of this with no luck, and typical places like Lift the Limit have not changed the contents of their page. I'm not complaining, that's for sure!
I spent my first 22 years in Iowa, leaving in 2002. Beer, wine and liquor have always been available at any grocery store without any sticker or markup as far as I know.
posted by sanka at 6:09 PM on December 31, 2009
posted by sanka at 6:09 PM on December 31, 2009
They are on twitter, so you could try asking them there: IowaABD. They just posted the latest list of top-selling high proof beers yesterday, and the price list for January 2010 still includes the beers, so it doesn't seem like anything has changed recently.
sanka, you might not even notice it since the affected beers are not something you'd run across unless you were looking for them.
posted by smackfu at 7:43 PM on December 31, 2009
sanka, you might not even notice it since the affected beers are not something you'd run across unless you were looking for them.
posted by smackfu at 7:43 PM on December 31, 2009
Oh no, I look for them, and buy them. As another data point, in high school and all through college, we drank Ice beers specifically for the ABV kick (5.9%). You could buy them at any grocery store, gas station or market in the state.
The only liquor laws I know of that Iowa has are that sales are off between 2am and 6am, and they don't sell hard liquor at gas stations. You can buy anything, including everclear, at your local grocery store, and any beer or wine at a gas station. Any day of the week.
posted by sanka at 8:56 PM on December 31, 2009
The only liquor laws I know of that Iowa has are that sales are off between 2am and 6am, and they don't sell hard liquor at gas stations. You can buy anything, including everclear, at your local grocery store, and any beer or wine at a gas station. Any day of the week.
posted by sanka at 8:56 PM on December 31, 2009
Here's the Iowa ABD price list for "high proof beer," complete with proof information. Do the math and see if the per bottle cost is in the range of your store's price. I think what you're seeing may be more the results of store marketing/seasonal inventory changes.
posted by webhund at 10:30 AM on January 1, 2010
posted by webhund at 10:30 AM on January 1, 2010
I spent my first 22 years in Iowa, leaving in 2002. Beer, wine and liquor have always been available at any grocery store without any sticker or markup as far as I know.
I've never actually noticed any stickers either, come to think of it. Just to check, I dug an old bottle of Hawkeye Vodka out of a bag of (mostly) pop bottles that I was going to take to redeem at some point. There's no sticker on it, and I would have purchased it sometime last summer or fall, I think.
posted by delmoi at 11:20 PM on January 5, 2010
I've never actually noticed any stickers either, come to think of it. Just to check, I dug an old bottle of Hawkeye Vodka out of a bag of (mostly) pop bottles that I was going to take to redeem at some point. There's no sticker on it, and I would have purchased it sometime last summer or fall, I think.
posted by delmoi at 11:20 PM on January 5, 2010
As a late follow-up to this, the Iowa legislature passed (and the governor signed) a change in the law about a month ago that now lets high alcohol beers be distributed through beer distributors instead of having to go through the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages distribution system like liquor and wine.
posted by webhund at 2:15 PM on March 31, 2010
posted by webhund at 2:15 PM on March 31, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by delmoi at 5:39 PM on December 31, 2009