Today’s antiquated law: Beer and wine still can’t be personally imported into Iowa

Old timey photo added for effect.

The Alcoholic Beverages Division of the great State of Iowa sent out this friendly reminder last week:

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide clarification on the personal importation of alcoholic beverages into the state of Iowa.

DISCUSSION
The personal importation of alcoholic beverages into Iowa is limited in the beverage types, amounts, and uses once imported that are allowed.

What types of alcohol can be personally imported?

Only alcoholic liquor can be personally imported. Beer and wine cannot be personally imported. (IC §123.22)

Hey Iowa, great job on letting us know that you still have some really useless laws on the books. We might have forgotten. So yeah, you can bring a certain amount of hard liquor into Iowa but not beer and wine. As you might expect, this is quite annoying for many businesses and residents — say in areas like the Quad Cities — which sit on the Iowa/Illinois border. From KWQC TV6 (the local NBC affiliate):

There are 4 wineries and 4 breweries on the Illinois side of the Quad City Metro, so by law, out of those 8 businesses, consumers can’t bring beverages they make across the river.

…

“It’s bad for businesses in the quad cities because we’re 4, 5 cities that are all intermingled together,” said Iowa resident, Patrick Murphy.

“I can’t imagine if I want to visit my sister in Iowa and I want to bring a bottle of wine to dinner without coming becoming a criminal, good lord,” said Martha Dismer.

Iowa, place palm firmly in face.