- Here’s how to get alcohol delivered right to your door whether it’s your favorite wine, beer, or spirit.
- Check your state’s laws before you shop, and be sure an adult who is 21 years or older can sign for the package.
- Some companies are experiencing delays and have implemented increased safety features due to the pandemic.
This content is intended for readers 21+. Please drink responsibly. If you or anyone you know is dealing with alcohol abuse, get help. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) provides a free, confidential, 24/7, treatment referral, and information service.
Trying to carry two bottles of wine, a handle of whiskey, a six-pack of beer, and some bitters to stock our bar cart might as well be an Olympic sport. But the task of buying alcohol doesn’t have to be so strenuous, and for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to go outside to the store, there’s always alcohol delivery.
We’ve broken down how to buy alcohol online and the best places to order from whether you’re into spirits, wine, or beer. Some can get you your alcohol within a couple of hours of ordering, while others may have set shipping schedules.
One thing to keep in mind with any alcohol delivery service is that each state has its own laws.
Alabama, Oklahoma, and Utah have outright bans on booze deliveries to private citizens. In almost all other states, wine deliveries are perfectly legal, though they will require a signature from an adult who’s 21 or older in most places. Check the National Conference of State Legislatures‘ Direct Shipment of Alcohol Statutes page for the most updated information.
Here are the best places to buy alcohol online:
- The best place to buy wine online: Wine.com
- The best place to buy indie wine online: NakedWines.com
- The best place to buy sake online: Tippsy
- The best place to buy beer online: Craft City
- The best on-demand alcohol delivery: Drizly
- The best place to buy alcohol gifts: ReserveBar
- The best spirits subscription: Flaviar
- The best wine subscription: Winc
- The best beer subscription: Beer of the Month Club
Wine.com boasts the world’s largest online wine selection, letting you find your old favorites, discover new wines, and shop collectible and boutique wines.
There’s no shortage of choice at Wine.com, where you can shop by varietal and region, or browse various curated lists and deals. You can also pick up gift baskets, glassware, and other wine accessories to supplement your bottles.
Each product page features helpful winemaker notes, reviews from trusted critics like James Suckling, and additional information about the vineyard. There’s also a live wine expert chat function in case you need extra help.
In addition to home delivery, the site offers order pickup from more than 10,000 participating locations including Walgreens, Duane Reade, and Safeway.
If you anticipate ordering often, get the annual $49 membership, which is called the StewardShip program, and gives you free shipping on every order for a full year with no purchase minimum.
Now through December 31, you can take 10% off your order of at least six bottles with code “10PS6“. New customers can also take $20 off orders of $100+ with the code “NEW2020“.
Shipping cost: Varied and based on the number of bottles and the size and weight of your order
Read about more places to buy wine online
Italian Wine Gift Set
The best place to buy indie wine online
NakedWines.com lets you support independent winemakers around the world and you’ll receive big discounts so you can stock your wine supply for less.
If you’re interested in getting to know the winemaker behind each of your bottles, you’ll love NakedWines.com, which specializes in lifting up independent wine labels around the world. You can become an “Angel” who invests $40 a month directly in up-and-coming winemakers, and in return, you’ll get wholesale prices (up to 60% off wine) and a free gift bottle every month.
Even if you don’t want to become an Angel, you can still shop the large variety of red, white, sparkling, rose, and sweet wine on the site and try the user-friendly filtering system. You can even browse winemaker profiles to hear directly from the source, read customer reviews, and easily shop all the wine from that maker.
There’s a generous welcome offer of $100 off your introductory case that includes six bottles of reds and whites. For future orders, there is a six-bottle minimum.
Shipping cost: $10 for orders under $100. For orders $100 and more, delivery is free — except for Hawaii (+$70) and Alaska (+$130).
Read our review of NakedWines.com
Napa Valley Discovery 6-Pack
The best place to buy Japanese sake online
Tippsy is a great way to explore Japanese sake à la carte or through a monthly subscription box.
If you’ve never drunk sake outside of a Japanese restaurant, you’re missing out on a whole world of booze. And if part of the reason is that you’re not sure what to order or what to pair it with, you might want to sign up for Tippsy.
Tippsy is an online store for sake, and it keeps the category from being overwhelming with taste profiles, pairing suggestions, translations of Japanese labels and descriptions, and more. Bottles can be purchased a la carte or through a subscription that arrives one, two, or four times a year. Each box contains six 10-ounce bottles, and your first box comes with a Sake 101 guide with tasting notes, and suggestions on food pairings and even what temperatures to enjoy the sake.
This is a great way to expand your palate and knowledge of alcohol without venturing out to a Japanese restaurant.
Currently, you can get $10 flat shipping on all orders, or earn free shipping if you order six or more bottles.
Membership cost: Starting at $93/box for subscription, à la carte bottles starting at $10 — Jada Wong
Read our review of Tippsy
Tippsy Sake Box
The best place to buy beer online
Craft beer enthusiasts will be happy with Craft City‘s impressive inventory that tends towards smaller brewery labels.
If you have a particular craft beer in mind — maybe you tried it while traveling or you bought it from a store once and never saw it again — chances are that Craft City carries it. It also happens to be a great place to buy other fizzy drinks, like craft kombucha and craft soda.
You can enjoy the nation’s best craft breweries, from more well-known names like Ballast Point and Allagash to labels you’ve never heard of. The nice thing is that you can buy single bottles rather than full packs, so you can create a fully customized beer stash.
Some of the products include ratings from Beer Advocate and Rate Beer, plus each page tells you exactly how much stock is left and whether you need to act quickly to snatch up your favorites. There’s also a cool Product Comparison tool if you’re between two beers and want a side-by-side breakdown of their differences.
Shipping cost: Based on your specific location, and generally, we found you’ll pay between $10 to $16 for ground shipping.
Read about more places to buy beer online
Mason Ale Works Cash Stout
The best on-demand alcohol delivery
For alcohol delivery within the hour, Drizly provides the most reliable, well-designed, and widely available service.
Drizly works with your local liquor stores to get you wine, beer, spirits, and even mixers, snacks, and party supplies quickly. Delivery’s free in New York City and only $5 in other areas. Drizly service is available in more than 220 markets nationwide.
Stock and pricing really depend on your neighborhood retailer, but you should expect all the big brands and bar essentials, as well as more unique offerings such as craft brews, bottles from local distillers, and exclusive wines. They should cost you the retail price, or a little more, though Drizly also regularly runs deals and promotions to save you some money.
Both the website and app are easy to use and you can look at your past purchases to make reordering a breeze.
Delivery cost: Free in NYC and $5 elsewhere
Read our comparison of Drizly, Minibar, and Saucey
Hornitos Reposado Tequila 1L
The best place to buy alcohol gifts
ReserveBar is an online luxury spirit and wine store that carries rare bottles, gift sets, and fine drinkware. It’s the perfect place to find top-shelf options for special occasions.
ReserveBar is an online delivery platform offering everything from bottom- and middle-shelf wine and spirits to the very tippy-top, like Armand de Brignac Blanc de Blancs and Remy Martin Louis XIII.
However, since it does charge a premium on common bottles and brands, we recommend going to other sites or your local liquor store for the bottom- and middle-shelf stuff and focusing instead on all the rare vintages and limited offerings — if you have the budget.
You’ll also find custom engravings, fancy crystal and barware sets, and gift baskets. If you ever want to make someone in your life — be it a partner, relative, or business contact — feel special, ReserveBar’s the place to find the best boozy gift.
At the time of this update, there’s free shipping on orders of $149 or more with the code “SHIP149,” a threshold that shouldn’t be too difficult to hit given the high-end nature of ReserveBar’s offerings.
Shipping cost: Shipping is $15-$35 for orders under $149. It’s free on orders over $149 with the code above.
Read our review of ReserveBar
Johnnie Walker Blue Label
The best spirits subscription
Flaviar is an accessible starting point and community for people wanting to expand their experience with spirits, and it offers no shortage of member-exclusive features to dive into and explore.
The world of fine and niche spirits can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to the scene. But if you’re interested in trying small-batch whiskeys, vodkas, tequilas, and more, personalized spirits subscription service Flaviar is an excellent place to start.
In addition to providing quality options (including rare bottles) at great prices, Flaviar also serves as an online community for fellow fans (600,000+ strong) to get together and talk about everything spirits-related.
It carries more than 20,000 different spirits and every three months, members can pick out one full-size bottle and a curated Tasting Box filled with various samples. There are many other perks, including member reviews, articles about different spirits, cocktail recipes, and interviews with industry experts.
Membership cost: $95 per quarter or $300 per year
Read our review of Flaviar
Flaviar Annual Subscription
The best wine subscription
The modern wine club model is nearly perfect in Winc‘s hands, from its large and on-trend bottle variety to its streamlined browsing and customer rating system.
Winc is always updating its stock of wine, which it produces based on consumer interests and emerging trends. That means you’ll always have something new to look forward to when you do your monthly wine shopping haul.
Winc’s site is easy to use and browse for different varietals and regions, and you can view member ratings and descriptions for each wine. We also love it because its wines are pretty affordable, ranging from $13 to $32 a bottle.
Amateur wine enthusiasts can start with the Palate Profile, which will point them in the right direction of different wines to try. Membership isn’t required to order from Winc, though it can save you some money if you regularly consume wine.
Right now, new customers can take $20 off four bottles or more.
Membership cost: $59.95/month, or order a minimum of three bottles starting at $13/bottle
Read our review of Winc
Read more about the best online wine subscriptions
Winc Wine Subscription
The best beer subscription
Beer of the Month Club has more than 25 years of experience recommending craft beers and uses three criteria — quality, freshness, and variety — to curate its 12-packs.
This club has been around since 1994 and is more than familiar with the best craft beers you should know about. Its panel members have some impressive experience up their sleeves, including over 100 collective years in the brewing industry and 500 beers rated every year to bring you only top-tier beers.
Beer of the Month currently offers five different membership types: US Microbrewed, US and International Variety, Hop Heads Beer, International Beer, and Rare Beer. You’ll get 12 bottles that represent two to four beer styles and breweries, plus profiles and tasting notes.
The subscription is aimed at people who want to develop their taste in beer or simply find it too time-consuming to do the research and work themselves.
Right now, you can save up to $30 off prepaid orders. Use the code “SAVE10” for $10 off a 4-shipment order, “SAVE15” for $15 off a prepaid 6-shipment order, and “SAVE30” for $30 off a prepaid 12-shipment order.
Membership cost: $29.95-$38.95 a month, plus $15 shipping.
Beer of the Month Club Subscription
Check out our other great guides
The best places to buy beer online, from local delivery services to monthly subscriptions
The best places to buy alcohol online — from general online liquor stores to monthly wine delivery services
The best wine subscriptions we’ve tried
The best Champagne and sparkling wine you can buy online
The best drinking glasses
The best wine openers and corkscrews
The best cocktail shakers
The best wine glasses
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