How buying alcohol works in Utah

Who sells what

In most states, the shop down the street decides what to sell. In Utah, the state decides, and for most alcohol the state is also the shop. Here's where each thing lives:

Sources: DABS statutes & rules, DABS FAQ, DABS store finder.

“Beer” means something specific here

Utah law sorts alcohol into two buckets. Beer is traditionally brewed beer at 5% alcohol by volume or less. Everything else is liquor: spirits, wine, flavored malt beverages, and “heavy” beer over 5%. Only beer can be sold in grocery stores, and only products DABS has approved for grocery and convenience stores. That's why a strong IPA or a flavored malt drink you'd grab at a supermarket elsewhere is a state-store item here.

The 5% line is fairly new. Grocery beer was capped at 3.2% alcohol by weight for decades until a 2019 law raised it to 4% by weight (5% by volume), which reached shelves that November.

State liquor stores and package agencies

DABS (the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services) runs the state liquor and wine stores with state employees, mostly in the more populated areas. They carry the full range: spirits, liqueurs, wine and some full-strength beer. A few are specialty wine stores with limited-production bottles, and some have refrigerated sections.

Package agencies fill in the gaps. They're privately run under contract with the state, and you'll find them in towns too small for a state store, at resorts and hotels for guests, and at breweries, wineries and distilleries selling their own products. There are more than 130 of them, with a more modest selection.

State stores

50+

Statewide, per DABS

Package agencies

130+

Towns, resorts, makers

Products bought a year

~6,000

Wines, spirits and heavy beers

State markup

88.5%

On liquor, wine and flavored malt drinks

Hours, Sundays and holidays

State stores are open Monday through Saturday, generally from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 10 p.m. Hours vary by store, so check yours before a late run. They're closed on Sundays and on state holidays, which in Utah include Pioneer Day, July 24. On a holiday Monday, Saturday is your last chance until Tuesday.

Grocery-store beer is sold seven days a week, and breweries, wineries and distilleries can sell every day of the week, so a Sunday isn't completely dry.

ID: what to bring

You must be 21 to buy, have or be given alcohol in Utah. Grocery and convenience stores and package agencies check every customer's ID, regardless of age, so have it out. Accepted:

• A valid U.S. driver license or state ID card
• A valid passport
• A U.S. military ID with photo and date of birth
• A foreign driver license with photo and date of birth, since May 6, 2026

A Utah driving privilege card isn't accepted as proof of age. And since 2026, Utah IDs for people a court has barred from buying alcohol carry the words “NO ALCOHOL SALE”; clerks check for it.

Can't find a bottle?

Not every store carries every product; DABS stocks each store based on its sales and location. To see who has it right now, search Utah Drops (we check DABS stock several times a day) or use DABS's own product locator. If the state doesn't carry it at all, there's the special order program:

• No extra fee, but full cases only (the producer sets the case size).
• Orders usually reach your chosen store about 45 days after DABS gets a price quote, and you have 14 business days to pick it up.
• Rare, allocated and high-demand bottles can't be special ordered, and old vintages usually can't either. Those go through the monthly drop and the drawing.
• Beer at 5% or under can't be special ordered; that's grocery-store territory.

Things you won't find on the shelf

• Anything over 80% alcohol. State stores and package agencies can't sell it, which in practice rules out the 190-proof Everclear.
• Boozy ice pops. Frozen alcohol products are banned from state stores and grocery stores alike.
• Kegs. Only licensed businesses and event permit holders may have beer in containers over two liters, and heavy beer is never sold in kegs or poured on draft.

Why the state runs the stores

After Prohibition ended in 1933, states got to choose how to sell alcohol. Utah's legislature decided the state, not private business, should control sales, and created the department in 1935. The idea, in DABS's words, is to make alcohol available to adults who choose to drink without promoting it: with no private profit at stake, nobody has a reason to push sales or open more stores.

Utah isn't alone: 17 states and one Maryland county control alcohol sales at the wholesale or retail level. The money goes back to the public. In fiscal 2022, sales of $557 million returned about $230 million to the state and local communities, including $54.5 million for school lunches. The department dropped “Control” from its name in 2022 and is now the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services.