Last updated 2026-07-23
TL;DR
Tennessee splits alcohol licensing into two lanes: the Tennessee ABC issues liquor-by-the-drink permits and retail package store licenses, while beer permits come from your local city or county beer board. You'll need entity paperwork, ownership background checks, a bond, and local approval before the state signs off. Budget at least 60 to 120 days before your target opening date, and confirm exact fees with TN ABC directly.
How do you get a liquor license in Tennessee?
There's no single "ABC license" in Tennessee. What you apply for depends on what you're selling and whether people drink it on-site or take it home. If you're opening a restaurant or bar and want to serve spirits, wine, or mixed drinks for people to drink on the premises, you need a liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) license from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission [1]. If you're opening a retail liquor store where customers buy bottles to go, that's a retail package store license, also issued by TN ABC. Beer, on the other hand, is regulated locally. Your city or county beer board handles beer permits, not the state ABC [1]. The rough sequence looks like this: confirm your location is even allowed to sell alcohol (some Tennessee counties and cities are still dry or beer-only), form your business entity, lock down a lease with the right zoning, gather ownership and financial disclosures, submit your application and bond through TN ABC, wait out the background investigation, then layer on your local business license and health permit before you pour anything. If you've already signed a lease and picked an opening date, the smart move is to work backward from that date rather than forward from today. A tool like the State Liquor License Roadmap can help map that timeline against Tennessee's specific requirements, but you can build the same checklist yourself using TN ABC's current application instructions.
What types of ABC licenses exist in Tennessee?
| Liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) | Tennessee ABC | On-premise sale of spirits, wine, and mixed drinks | Restaurants, bars, hotels, event venues | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail package store | Tennessee ABC | Off-premise sale of packaged liquor and wine | Standalone liquor stores | |
| Beer permit | City or county beer board | Retail beer sales, on- or off-premise | Bars, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores | |
| Manufacturer or wholesaler permit | Tennessee ABC | Production and distribution of beer, wine, spirits | Distilleries, breweries, wineries, distributors | TN ABC's own site describes itself as the agency that regulates "the manufacture, distribution, and sale" of alcoholic beverages above the beer threshold in the state [1]. Note that a restaurant serving both beer and cocktails usually needs two separate approvals: an LBD license from the state and a beer permit from the local board. They are not the same application and they don't move on the same clock. |
Tennessee's alcohol licensing splits across a state commission and local boards, and mixing them up is the single most common planning mistake new owners make. | License type | Issued by | What it covers | Typical holder |
What are the steps to apply for a Tennessee liquor-by-the-drink license?
Applying for an LBD license in Tennessee is a multi-step process that touches state, county, and sometimes city offices, so plan for more than one mailing address in your calendar. First, confirm your county or city has actually approved liquor-by-the-drink sales through local referendum. Some Tennessee jurisdictions remain dry or beer-only, and this is decided locally, not by the state [2]. Second, form your LLC or corporation and get your federal EIN, since TN ABC applications are tied to a specific legal entity, not an individual name. Third, make sure your lease and zoning actually permit on-premise alcohol sales at that address (worth double-checking even after signing, since zoning and referendum status don't always match). Fourth, gather your ownership disclosures. Every owner, officer, or anyone with a qualifying financial interest typically needs to submit personal history statements and consent to a background check. Fifth, submit your application and required bond through TN ABC. Sixth, wait through the investigation period, which can include a site visit from an ABC agent. Seventh, once approved, register with the Tennessee Department of Revenue for the applicable state taxes, since ABC licensing and tax registration are separate steps . Finally, get your local business license and health department sign-off before you open your doors.
Does your county have to approve alcohol sales before you apply?
Yes, in most cases. Tennessee's alcohol laws are built on a local option system, meaning individual counties and cities voted, at some point in the state's history, on whether to allow package sales, liquor-by-the-drink, or both [2]. Some counties remain dry for spirits even today, and others allow beer but not liquor-by-the-drink. This matters enormously if you're opening in a smaller Tennessee town rather than Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, or Chattanooga, where wet status is well established. Before you finalize any assumptions about your license, confirm current wet/dry status with your county clerk's office and with TN ABC directly, since local option status can be more complicated at the city level within a wet county, or vice versa. If you've already signed your lease, this is the first thing to verify, today, not after you submit your application. A landlord or broker telling you "it's fine, everyone around here serves" is not the same as a confirmed local referendum record.
How much is a liquor license in Tennessee?
There's no flat national answer to "how much is a liquor license," and Tennessee ABC does not publish one clean number that applies to every applicant. Costs stack from several sources: a state application fee, a license fee, a required bond, local business taxes, and ongoing tax obligations tied to actual sales. On the tax side, Tennessee imposes a liquor-by-the-drink tax on top of regular sales tax, set by statute "at the rate of fifteen percent (15%)" on the retail sale price of drinks for on-premise consumption (Tenn. Code Ann. § 57-4-301) [2]. That's an ongoing operating cost, not a one-time license fee, and it's collected on top of standard state and local sales tax. For the actual application, license, and bond amounts, those figures change and vary by license type, so confirm current numbers directly with TN ABC before you budget your opening costs. Don't rely on a number you saw in a forum post from three years ago. If you want a structured way to lay out every fee category against your specific license type and timeline, that's exactly the kind of planning the $199 State Liquor License Roadmap is built for, though you can also just call TN ABC and ask for the current fee schedule yourself.
How long does it take to get a Tennessee ABC license?
Nobody, including TN ABC itself, will give you a guaranteed number of days. Background investigations, bond processing, and board meeting schedules all affect the timeline, and a file with missing documents restarts parts of the clock. Realistically, restaurant and bar owners in Tennessee have reported timelines ranging from a few weeks for a clean, complete application in a straightforward jurisdiction, up to a few months when local approval, background checks, or bond issues stack up. If your local county or city referendum status is unsettled or your ownership structure includes multiple investors, add more time, not less. Back-plan from your opening date. If you're targeting a grand opening in, say, 90 days, that's an aggressive but not impossible window if your local wet/dry status is already confirmed, your entity is formed, and your background documents are ready to submit immediately. If any of those pieces are still in progress, push your opening date or plan for a soft opening without full alcohol service while your license clears.
How do you get a bartending license in Tennessee?
This is a different question from getting an ABC license, and it trips people up constantly. Your establishment holds the ABC license (LBD or beer permit). Your individual staff, the people actually pouring and serving, generally need alcohol server training and, depending on current requirements, a server permit or card issued through TN ABC's responsible vendor framework [1]. Requirements for individual server permits, training providers, and renewal timing can change and vary by county, so confirm the current server training and permit rules directly with TN ABC before you schedule staff onboarding. Don't assume a certification from another state transfers automatically. If you're building out your opening checklist, treat staff training as a parallel track that runs alongside your establishment's license application, not something you tackle after the license is approved. You can train and certify servers before your ABC license clears, so there's no reason to wait.
Can you serve alcohol without a liquor license?
No. Selling or serving alcoholic beverages without the required state and local licensing is illegal everywhere in the United States, and Tennessee is no exception. This applies to for-profit restaurants, private event venues charging admission, and nonprofits hosting fundraisers with a cash bar alike. On the federal side, businesses that manufacture, import, or wholesale alcohol need a federal Basic Permit under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act, administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) [3]. Most retail on-premise sellers, meaning your typical restaurant or bar, don't need a separate federal permit to sell drinks, though they do need to handle any applicable federal excise tax obligations tied to what they purchase from licensed suppliers. Notably, the old federal Special Occupational Tax that used to apply to retail liquor dealers was permanently repealed effective July 1, 2008, under the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 [4], so that particular federal paperwork burden is gone for retailers today. State and local licensing is the part that's non-negotiable. Selling without your state ABC license or local beer permit can mean criminal charges, fines, and forced closure, and it can also void your general liability insurance if a claim ever comes up tied to alcohol service. If you're not sure whether a specific event or pop-up needs its own temporary permit, ask TN ABC before you pour, not after.
How does Tennessee compare to Florida for liquor license costs?
This comparison comes up a lot because Florida runs one of the more famous quota systems in the country, and people researching Tennessee often stumble on Florida pricing and get confused about why the numbers look so different. Florida caps the number of full liquor licenses (the kind that allow spirits, more than beer and wine) per county based on population, under a quota system set out in Florida Statutes chapter 565 [5] and administered by the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco within Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation [6]. When a county has already issued all its quota licenses, new applicants generally have to buy an existing license on the secondary market rather than get a fresh one from the state at the base fee. Secondary market prices for Florida quota licenses vary enormously by county, from a few thousand dollars in low-demand rural counties to well into six figures in dense, high-tourism counties. Confirm current listings and pricing with a Florida-licensed broker or with the DBPR directly, since these numbers move with local demand and aren't fixed by statute. Tennessee works differently. There's no statewide quota lottery for LBD licenses. Instead, the gate is local approval (the wet/dry referendum status covered earlier) plus the state's application and bond process. That generally means Tennessee's path is more predictable in structure, even if the exact fee total still needs confirming with TN ABC, while Florida's path can mean a straightforward state application in an under-quota county, or a expensive secondary-market purchase in a maxed-out one. If you're comparing states for a multi-unit expansion, this quota-versus-local-approval distinction is often the single biggest driver of cost difference. You can read more on general liquor licensing structures and how different states set up their systems.
Can anyone take the bar exam?
This question shows up in liquor license research because of the shared word "bar," but it has nothing to do with alcohol licensing. The bar exam is the test attorneys take to get licensed to practice law in a given state, administered under rules set by that state's bar admission authority. No, not anyone can sit for the bar exam. Most U.S. jurisdictions require a Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school before you're eligible to register, along with passing a character and fitness review. Exact eligibility rules, including a small number of jurisdictions that allow law office study or apprenticeship routes instead of law school, are set individually by each state's bar admission authority, and the National Conference of Bar Examiners tracks jurisdiction-specific rules and testing components . If you're actually researching attorney licensing rather than alcohol licensing, our florida bar and california bar guides cover state-specific admission requirements, and our florida bar member search page walks through how to verify an attorney's license status. If you landed here looking for a liquor license instead, the sections above on Tennessee's LBD and package store licenses are what you want.
What documents and background checks does TN ABC require?
Expect a paperwork-heavy application regardless of which Tennessee license you're pursuing. While exact requirements can change, applicants typically need to provide a complete list of owners, officers, and anyone with a qualifying financial interest in the business, along with personal history statements for each of them. Financial disclosure is standard too: source of funds for the business, financial statements, and sometimes tax return information, since TN ABC wants to understand who is actually funding the operation. Every listed owner and officer generally goes through a criminal background check as part of the investigation. You'll also need proof of your right to occupy the premises (your lease), a floor plan showing where alcohol service happens, confirmation of local zoning approval, and your surety bond. Because this list can shift and because county-level add-ons vary, pull the current, official checklist from TN ABC before you start collecting documents [1]. Building your file against an outdated checklist is one of the most common causes of avoidable delay.
How do you plan a TN ABC application backward from your opening date?
Once your lease is signed and your opening date is set, the license application stops being a someday task and becomes the thing most likely to blow up your timeline if you ignore it. Start by confirming your local wet/dry and LBD-versus-beer-only status this week, not after you've built out the kitchen. Form your entity and get your EIN if you haven't already. Pull TN ABC's current application checklist and start gathering ownership disclosures and background check consents immediately, since these take real calendar time to collect from every investor or partner. Submit your application as early as your documentation allows, register with the Tennessee Department of Revenue for applicable taxes, and run staff alcohol server training in parallel rather than waiting for approval. A structured, state-specific checklist helps here because Tennessee's requirements don't map cleanly onto what a friend's bar in another state went through. That's the gap the $199 one-time State Liquor License Roadmap is built to close: a back-planned timeline from your target opening date, matched to your specific license type. It's a planning tool, not a law firm and not a broker, and it can't promise approval or a specific timeline. Only TN ABC can approve your license.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a liquor license?
It depends entirely on the state, the license type, and sometimes the county. Costs can range from a few hundred dollars in application and license fees in some states to hundreds of thousands of dollars on the secondary market in quota states like Florida. There's no single national number, so always confirm current fees with your specific state ABC authority before budgeting.
How do I get a liquor license in Tennessee?
Confirm your county or city allows liquor-by-the-drink or package sales, form your business entity, gather ownership and background check documents, and submit your application and bond to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission [1]. Beer permits go through your local city or county beer board instead. Confirm current requirements with TN ABC directly since paperwork and fees can change.
How to get a bartending license in Tennessee?
Tennessee doesn't issue a single "bartending license." Individual servers and sellers of alcohol generally need alcohol awareness training and a server permit under TN ABC's responsible vendor requirements, separate from the establishment's ABC license [1]. Confirm current training provider and permit requirements with TN ABC, since rules can vary by county.
Can anyone take the bar exam?
No. The bar exam is unrelated to alcohol licensing; it's the test for attorney licensure. Most states require a Juris Doctor from an accredited law school plus a character and fitness review before you can register, and specific eligibility rules are set by each jurisdiction's bar admission authority [9].
How much is a liquor license in Florida?
Florida's quota liquor licenses are capped by county population under Florida Statutes chapter 565 [8]. In counties where the quota is maxed out, buyers typically purchase an existing license on the secondary market, where prices range from a few thousand dollars in rural counties to well over six figures in high-demand counties. Confirm current pricing with Florida's DBPR or a licensed broker [7].
Can you serve alcohol without a liquor license?
No, not legally, anywhere in the U.S. Selling or serving alcohol without the required state and local licenses can lead to criminal charges, fines, forced closure, and voided liability insurance. Even one-off events and fundraisers typically need a license or a temporary permit. Confirm with your state ABC authority before serving anything.
Does Tennessee have a liquor license lottery or quota like Florida?
No. Tennessee doesn't run a statewide quota lottery for liquor-by-the-drink licenses the way Florida does for its full liquor licenses. Instead, Tennessee's main gate is local approval through county or city referendum status, plus the state application and bond process through TN ABC [2].
How long does a Tennessee ABC application take to process?
There's no fixed number of days you can count on. Reported experiences range from a few weeks for a complete, clean application in an already-approved jurisdiction to a few months when local approval status, background checks, or bond issues add delays. Back-plan at least 60 to 120 days before your target opening date to be safe.
Do I need local government approval before applying for a TN liquor license?
Yes, generally. Your county or city must have already approved alcohol sales, and specifically liquor-by-the-drink sales if that's what you're pursuing, through local option referendum [2]. Confirm current wet/dry and LBD status with your county clerk's office before you submit your state application.
What's the difference between a beer permit and an LBD license in Tennessee?
A beer permit, issued by your local city or county beer board, covers retail beer sales. A liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) license, issued by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, covers spirits, wine, and mixed drinks for on-premise consumption [1]. A restaurant serving both typically needs both approvals, and they run on separate timelines.
Can I transfer an existing Tennessee liquor license instead of applying for a new one?
Tennessee licenses are generally tied to the licensed entity and location rather than freely transferable the way some states' quota licenses are. If you're buying an existing bar or restaurant, confirm with TN ABC whether the existing license can carry over to new ownership or whether you need a fresh application under your own entity.
Do I need a certain percentage of food sales to get an LBD license in Tennessee?
Some Tennessee license categories and local rules do tie eligibility to food service or minimum seating for on-premise consumption permits, particularly for establishments positioning as restaurants rather than bars. Requirements can vary by license subtype and locality, so confirm the current food/seating criteria with TN ABC for your specific business model.
What happens if I open before my Tennessee liquor license is approved?
You can open and operate as a food-only or non-alcohol business while your license is pending, but you cannot legally sell or serve any alcoholic beverage until your ABC license (and local beer permit, if applicable) is officially approved. Serving before approval risks fines, license denial, and possible criminal exposure.
Sources
- Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission: TN ABC issues liquor-by-the-drink and retail package store licenses, while beer permits are issued by local city/county beer boards, and TN ABC oversees responsible vendor server training.
- Justia, Tennessee Code Annotated Title 57: Tennessee's liquor-by-the-drink tax is set by statute at the rate of fifteen percent (15%), and local option referendum status determines whether a county or city allows alcohol sales.
- Oyez, Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn v. Thomas (2019): The U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Tennessee's durational residency requirement for retail liquor license owners under the Commerce Clause and Twenty-first Amendment.
- Congress.gov, Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (H.R. 6111): The federal special occupational tax on retail liquor dealers was repealed, effective July 1, 2008.
- Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S.C. § 5001: Federal excise tax on distilled spirits is set at $13.50 per proof gallon under the general statutory rate.
- Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (DBPR): Florida's DBPR administers the state's quota liquor license system and general alcohol retailer licensing.
- Florida Senate, Florida Statutes: Florida's quota liquor license system tied to county population is codified in Florida Statutes chapter 565.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue: Alcohol retailers must register separately with the Tennessee Department of Revenue for applicable state taxes in addition to ABC licensing.