This page will help you understand Florida alcohol laws and avoid expensive fines or even jail. Not to mention time and embarrassment.

Florida alcohol laws can impact visitors from elsewhere. Visitors may falsely think that its alcohol laws are the same as those where they live. This can easily cause serious problems.

Alcohol laws are not even the same within Florida. They can also differ within a large metropolitan area. So it’s easy to break the law without knowing it.

I. Minimum Age Laws

Young people often want to work part-time. Hospitality has many jobs. So youths need to know the age for working with alcohol. How old must one be to serve alcohol in a venue for drinking on site? To tend bar? To sell alcohol for consumption elsewhere?

Adults aged 18 or older may be bartenders. They may also be servers in venues that sell alcohol for consumption on-site.

There is no age restriction for selling beer or wine for off-site use. The exception is for selling spirits in such an establishment.

It is criminal to use a borrowed, forged, counterfeit, or stolen Florida driver’s license to buy alcohol. Of course, the same applies to a Florida ID card. Understandably, it’s also illegal to provide anyone with such false ID.

It’s legal for any adult 18 or older to drink alcohol as part of a required course. It must be at an institution with accreditation. Moreover, the instructor must be at least 21 and control the alcohol at all times.

It’s illegal for those under 21 to drive or boat with a BAC of 0.02 or higher.

II. More Florida Alcohol Laws

Alcohol Sales

It’s illegal to sell alcohol to anyone, including adults, under age 21. The penalty for doing so, even accidentally, is a fine of up to $500. It may also include imprisonment for up to 60 days.

Florida alcohol laws permit beer and wine sales in alcohol-licensed retail stores. This includes grocery stores and convenience gas stations. However, only a package store may sell spirits. (Spirits are rum, whiskey, tequila, gin, vodka, etc.)

This distinction is based on an old myth. It’s that spirits are more alcoholic than beer or wine. But standard drinks of each has the same amount of alcohol. That is six-tenths ounce of pure alcohol.

It’s illegal to sell any of the celebratory Champagne bottle sizes. That is, Methuselahs, Salamanazars, Balthazars or Nebuchadnezzars.

Sales Hours

Retailers may generally not sell alcohol anywhere between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. any day of the week. But Florida counties and cities have much authority over the days and times of alcohol sales.

Miami-Dade and a few other counties permit 24-hour sales on seven days of the week. Some counties permit sales beginning at noon on Sundays. On the other hand, the counties of Baker and Polk are dry on Sundays. Prohibiting alcohol sales on Sundays or until noon on Sundays is a vestige of Blue Laws.

However, some Florida counties follow a different path. For example, the panhandle counties of Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, and Washington counties are dry. (Discover more at Dry Counties.) The sale of alcohol there is illegal 24/7. This is a vestige of the Temperance Movement.

Florida drinking laws prohibit drinking on public property. This generally includes streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and beaches. But this prohibition extends to private property if the owner hasn’t given permission.

Note that “ABC” stores in Florida are not government monopolies. They are independent, competitive, tax-paying businesses with “ABC” as their name.

Buying Alcohol

People must be 21 or older to buy alcohol. Even a first offense is a crime. It’s jail for 60 days and a fine of $500. A second offense is jail for up to one year and a $1,000 fine.

Using a fake ID to buy, or attempt to buy, alcohol is a crime. It’s punishable with prison for up to five years and a fine up to $5,000.

Lending an ID to someone is punishable by 60 days in jail and a $500.00 fine. Using someone else’s ID carries the same penalties. And the state may suspend the licenses of both people for one year.

It’s a violation of Florida alcohol laws to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher.

For those under 21, including adults, it’s 0.02% or greater. The penalty for driving with a BAC of .02% up to .05% is license suspension for six months. For a BAC of .05% or higher, courts suspend the license until completion of a substance course. If the offender is not an adult (is under 18), police notify the parents.

Florida alcohol laws prohibit open alcohol containers in motor vehicles. Drivers receive a fine of at least $73.00. But it could be up to $90.00. Passengers receive a fine of at least $43.00. However, it could be up to $60.00.

Florida law requires drivers to submit to a BAC test if police request it. The state punishes drivers who use their Constitutional right to decline. The punishment is suspension of the driver’s license for one year. A second refusal on another time results in suspension for 18 months..

Boating Under the Influence

Florida alcohol laws prohibit operating a boat under the influence (OBU). The terms boat and vessel are very, very general. For example, they even include riding water skis.

People are “under the influence” if they have a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Alternatively, if alcohol and/or drugs is impacting them to a degree which impairs their normal abilities. Or with a BAC of 0.05% or higher if there is any evidence of being “under the influence.” Of course, that’s in the opinion of the arresting officer. Clearly, that is very subjective.

Penalties for a first offense are jail for up to six months and a fine of up to $500. For a second, it’s jail for up to nine months and a fine of up to $1,000. And for a third, it’s prison for up to a year and a fine up to $2,500.

If the offense causes property damage, injury, or death, the court imposes much more severe punishments.

For those under 21, it’s illegal to operate a vessel with any measurable BAC. That is, with a BAC of 0.02%. That number is not zero because breathalyzers are not accurate.

A conviction requires 50 hours of public service and completing a boater education course. Also an online course. They may not operate any vessel until they satisfy all those requirements.

A person operating a vessel must by law submit to a BAC test if police request it. The state punishes those who use their Constitutional right to decline. It does so with 50 hours of public service. In addition, they may not operate a vessel until they satisfy that requirement.

III. Resources on Florida Alcohol Laws

• State Code
• Court Opinions
• Attorney General Opinions
• Florida Bar
• Division of Alcohol and Tobacco
• Florida Drivers Guide for Parents and Teens.
• Criminal and Traffic Law Manual.

IV. Seek Good Advice about Drinking Laws in Florida

Laws about alcohol change. Interpretations of these laws also change. Law is always in flux.  Florida alcohol laws, as those of all states, can be confusing. So do not rely on this site. Nor on any other site.

Get information or advice about Florida alcohol laws from an expert. That is a lawyer holding a license in the state.

Florida is a big state. Alcohol laws vary from dry counties to those permitting sales 24/7. So it’s a good idea to select a lawyer in your city.

So now you know more about Florida alcohol laws than do most residents of the Sunshine State!