How Connecticut permits work

Backers, credentials and the only enforcement data published as open data anywhere in our coverage.

Connecticut structures alcohol permits differently from most states, and the vocabulary trips people up.

Permittee and backer

Connecticut issues a permit to a permittee — a named individual who is responsible for the premises — while the backer is the person or company that owns the business and holds the financial interest. Both appear on the record. When you look up who “owns” a Connecticut bar, the backer is usually the answer you want.

Credential codes

Permits carry a credential code such as LIR.0018482. The prefix is the class: LIR restaurant liquor, LIP package store liquor, LCA cafe liquor, LIT tavern liquor. The Department of Consumer Protection publishes each class as its own dataset with the full premises address, which is why our Connecticut search queries four datasets in parallel.

The master register

There is also a single master file of 306,644 permits going back decades, of which about 81,800 are active. It carries the backer’s address rather than the premises address, so we use the per-class datasets for anything location-based.

Enforcement — the part nobody else publishes

Connecticut publishes suspensions and hearing decisions as open data, including the official placard document. No other state in our coverage does this. Where a suspension matches a permit, it appears directly on that permit’s page.

We report these exactly as published. A suspension is a time-limited administrative action, and a historical one may have nothing to do with the current operator. Browse current suspensions →