Weird Drinking Laws in North Carolina

Some laws are just weird.

They’re either weird because they’re so random (Ohio has a law that you can’t get a fish drunk) or so ludicrous (It’s illegal to sneeze on city streets in Asheville, NC). North Carolina has it’s fair share of weird laws, including the illegality of rollerblading on a state highway in Southern Shores. And when it comes to drinking laws, the weirdness keeps on coming. Check out these eight, weird drinking laws in North Carolina.

1. Serving alcohol at a bingo game is not allowed. As a side note, bingo games can’t last longer than five hours (unless at a fair)…I don’t know.

2. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have an entirely separate set of laws concerning alcohol, but the government can pretty much veto any of them.

3. The following are considered vehicles sufficient to support a DWI conviction — stand-up scooter with electric motor, a farm tractor and a horse (why anyone would ride a horse drunk is beyond me, but I guess it’s cool the state has thought about how it would handle it…maybe).

4. Happy hours are actually illegal in North Carolina. Bet you didn’t know that one.

5. In North Carolina, you must be 21-years old to consume alcohol but can become a bartender at 18. Wait, what? Definitely don’t want to ask my 18-year-old bartender what he’d recommend.

6. In Wake County, there are limits to how much alcohol a person can purchase at one time. Except for draft malt beverages. Technically speaking, you could buy all the draft malt beverages in the county…at one time.

7. North Carolina is the only state in the country in which alcohol is controlled by both the state’s ABC Commission and a council of more than 160 local boards. Trying to figure out exactly what that means will kind of give you a migraine.

8. The North Carolina Alcohol Commission has the authority to prohibit or regulate advertising of alcoholic beverages by mail. Alcohol advertisements by mail? Do people still get mail?