You can buy beer on Sunday in Massachusetts. Package stores and licensed grocery stores can open as early as 10:00 AM, bars and restaurants can serve starting at 10:00 AM, and brewery taprooms can sell bottles to take home. Exact closing times vary by establishment and town, and a handful of holidays override the usual Sunday rules.
Package Store Sunday Hours
Package stores and liquor-licensed grocery stores can start selling at 10:00 AM on Sundays. This has been the rule since October 2014, when the legislature amended the blue laws. An Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission advisory confirms that package stores are entitled to the 10:00 AM opening “as a matter of right” and do not need approval from their local licensing authority.1Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. ABCC Advisory on Package Store Sunday Opening Hours
The one thing a store has to do is notify the local licensing authority. If a store never files that notice, it cannot legally sell any earlier than what its license currently lists.1Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. ABCC Advisory on Package Store Sunday Opening Hours Closing time is set by the individual license and local rules, so Sunday evening cutoffs are not uniform across the state.
Bars and Restaurants on Sunday
On-premise sales are banned on Sundays only between 1:00 AM and 10:00 AM.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 33 From 10:00 AM onward, a restaurant or bar holding a Section 12 license can pour beer. The latest any night can run is 2:00 AM, since sales are prohibited between 2:00 AM and 8:00 AM on secular days.3General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 12 The widest possible Sunday window at a bar runs 10:00 AM through 2:00 AM Monday.
Local licensing authorities can narrow that window, and they often do. A restaurant in one town may stop serving at midnight on Sundays while one a few towns over keeps going until 1:00 AM. The establishment also needs a license that covers “all days of the week” rather than “secular days only”; the all-days version can cost up to 25 percent more.
Breweries and Taprooms
Massachusetts craft breweries holding a Section 19C farmer-brewery license can sell beer by the bottle to take home on Sundays and legal holidays. Wineries (Section 19B) and distilleries (Section 19E) have the same Sunday privilege for their own products.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 33 Sunday taproom hours are common, though each brewery sets its own schedule within whatever its town allows.
It Depends on the Town
Massachusetts runs alcohol sales on a local option. Every city and town votes on whether to allow licenses at all, and can vote separately on Sunday sales. A municipality that rejects Sunday sales can keep its package stores and restaurants closed that day entirely, even though state law would otherwise permit them to open.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 15 Within towns that do allow Sunday sales, the local authority sets exact operating hours for each licensee.
If you’re driving into an unfamiliar town for a Sunday purchase, a quick check of local rules is worth the minute. The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission answers questions about permissible days and hours at (617) 727-3040.5Mass.gov. Massachusetts Blue Laws and Working on Sundays and Holidays
When Sunday Is Also a Holiday
Holiday restrictions override the standard Sunday rules. Package stores cannot sell at all on Thanksgiving or Christmas, and cannot sell before noon on Memorial Day.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 33 If Christmas falls on a Sunday, package stores stay closed that day.
Bars and restaurants face their own holiday limits. On Christmas and Memorial Day, on-premise sales are banned between 1:00 AM and noon, or between 2:00 AM and noon in Suffolk County, which includes Boston.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 33 A Christmas that lands on a Sunday means no beer at a bar until noon.
Tavern Licenses Are the Exception
One license type cannot sell on Sundays at all. The statute states that “no holder of a tavern license shall sell any alcoholic beverages on Sundays.”2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138 Section 33 Massachusetts treats a tavern license as separate from a restaurant license. A place that looks like a neighborhood bar may actually hold a tavern license, in which case it cannot pour you a Sunday beer regardless of the hour. If a spot you had in mind is dark on a Sunday afternoon, the license type is often why.