Guides
How alcohol licensing works in each state, what the codes mean, and how to use the register without getting it wrong.
Why there is no national liquor licence database
Alcohol licensing is 51 separate systems, and most of them are closed. What is actually available, and what is not.
What a Texas TABC licence code means
MB, BQ, BG, P, Q and the rest — decoded, with the three-tier system that explains why they exist.
New York liquor licence classes
Why the SLA register is the best-structured alcohol dataset in the country.
How Connecticut permits work
Backers, credentials and the only enforcement data published as open data anywhere in our coverage.
What a liquor licence actually costs
State fees are the small part. The transferable market value is the real number.
Buying a bar: the licence due-diligence checklist
Nine things to verify about the permit before you sign anything.
Reading an expiry date
Why "expires in 3 months" almost never means the bar is closing.
How fresh is this data?
Update cadence for each state, and what "live" does and does not guarantee.
Dry counties, local option and why the map has holes
Texas has counties where you cannot buy a drink, and the register shows it.
Who uses licence data, and for what
Six real jobs this dataset does, beyond curiosity.
The 51% sign rule in Texas
A single field in the TABC dataset that carries real legal weight.
Search tips
How to find a licence when the obvious search fails.