Beer

Buying Beer Is Both Legal and Illegal on Sunday Nights in Minnesota

An unplanned encounter with a silly, arbitrary (and improving) liquor law

Eric Boehm | 6.23.2026 11:15 AM

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It was a little after 6 p.m. on Sunday night—that bizarre time when buying booze is simultaneously legal and illegal in Minnesota.

I'd been catching up with some old friends at Utepils Brewing in Minneapolis and, as we headed for the door, I grabbed a few cans of the brewery's signature pilsner, intending to bring them home. The bartender refused to let me buy them.

Had I had too much? Hardly. In fact, she would have been happy to pour another round of drinks for all of us.

The beer was perfectly legal to be sold, and the cans in the cooler marked "to go" were available for purchase—just not at this very moment.

In Minnesota, to-go alcohol sales are allowed only........

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