How do you overcome shipping restrictions?

I also live in NYC and I as well find it a bit difficult to get 'particular' bottles of whisky. The most difficult part when ordering whisky for me is the shipping cost. You probably already know this but these are a few reputable sites and places to purchase a great variety of whisky. Masterofmalt.com Royalmilewhisky.com Astor wine and spirits......located in lower Manhattan Totalwine.com. Located in Jersey, pick up only. They dont deliver to NY Hudsonwinemarket.com located across the GW bridge. They do deliver and no taxes just shipping and bottle cost Hope this helps

Michigan is also one of those states that most other states will not ship to. My success has depended upon use of several international sources, a couple of USA vendors who ship both wine & liquor under cover as wine shipments, and in-laws/retired friends who spend months in Florida, which does allow liquor shipments. Florida also has several Total Wine+More retail locations with very good selection and prices.

@cherylnifer I too am a Michigan native and am suffering the woes of Michigan's kangaroo Liquor Comission with its short list of approved wholesalers. You think it's a free country until you run into weird restrictions like this. A liquor store would be more than happy to order a bottle on my behalf from an out-of-state vendor, and I'm sure UPS wouldn't mind having to get an adult signature at a private residence, so it's not even about the protection of minors. Springbank 10: can't get it. Glenfarclas 105: not allowed. Etc., etc. These whimsical restrictions are really getting me down.

My advice is don't get into trouble.

@JJBriggs I've heard that the maxiumum penalty is confiscation of the "contraband," but who really knows? Government can make heaps of trouble for ordinary people.

I'm curious if these laws prevent anyone from shipping alcohol into the state, or just liquor vendors? I was under the impression they related to the latter, but perhaps I'm wrong. Can I really get in trouble if I mail a bottle of champagne to my sister if she lives in one of these states?

Yes you can get in trouble. Some vendors may be more responsible and voluntarily decided not to send to you. Still, other less scrupulous vendors may not care because they'll say they are just acting as your agent, but, if you read your state's law, it is likely you've violated it. US State control of liquor is a complicated vestige of prohibition. Sec. 2 of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution gives tremendous power to US States to have whatever type of restrictive liqour laws they want to have. It might be unfair that some states are restrictive and others are not but it is still the law. Unfortunately, this type of regulation is not intuitive and completely at odds with the fact that otherwise the US is an open market and you can ship most products from say New York to Georgia with no legal worries.

Recently there has been a trend for states with wine production to allow for reciprocal out of state wine shipments, e.g., Virginia allows for out of state wine shipments because if they don't then other states will block Virginia shipments of wine. This only applies to wine and obviously some states without a wine industry (Oklahoma and Mississippi come to mind) have nothing to lose. But if a state with any significant wine industry wants its producers to be able to ship out of state, it is going to have to allow for producers to ship from out of state. That is exactly what Virginia did a few years ago.

Unfortunately, no such trends have emerged with respect to alcohol. I can only hope that with the emergence of craft distillers we may see US states adopt a similar regime. Some states, knowing that their state run monopoly do not offer certain products, allow customers to purchase a case of any product available anywhere commercially in the US. Essentialy the state run monopoly buys it from the out of state distributor/importer on your behalf and slaps tax and a markup on it. It's legal and cumbersome, maybe split a case with some friends, but better than getting in trouble and going to jail.