Updated April 2026.
Colorado packaged alcohol — beer, wine, and spirits in sealed containers — may be sold from 8:00 a.m. to midnight every day (C.R.S. § 44-3-901). That includes Sunday. Christmas is no longer a statewide sealed-sale blackout: SB24-231 deleted the old Christmas clause (effective Aug. 7, 2024). On-premise bars and restaurants may serve 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Locals can be tighter. They cannot invent a 3 a.m. liquor-store loophole. Age 21.
Grocery beer and a full liquor store use the same off-premise night clock: midnight, not 2:00 a.m. A Denver bar at 1:30 a.m. is not a 1:30 a.m. liquor store. Full-strength beer and wine in grocery are legal; leftover “3.2 only” grocery language is historical. Sister start times: when you can buy beer in Colorado.
Colorado clocks
| License / sale | May sell | Must stop | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sealed containers (liquor store, grocery, many c-stores) | 8:00 a.m. | Midnight | Every day, including Sunday and Christmas. The store may still lock the door. |
| On-premise (bars, restaurants) | 7:00 a.m. | 2:00 a.m. | Every day in the statute. Locals may shorten, not invent a later grocery clock. |
| Takeout / delivery (permitted on-premise, § 44-3-911) | 7:00 a.m. | Midnight | SB24-020 removed the July 2025 sunset. Employee-assisted; not a later liquor-store hour. |
| Sunday / Christmas / Thanksgiving | Ordinary clocks | SB24-231 + LED Bulletin 24-02: Christmas sealed sales allowed; no duty to open. | |
Entertainment-district later hours, if a city writes them, are on-premise — not a sealed-container loophole past midnight. We are not printing a 64-county table. If a town is drier, the clerk is right. Gas stations follow the sealed clockgas stations. A different model: Florida’s local-option default.
Sources
- C.R.S. § 44-3-901(6): on-premise except 2 a.m.–7 a.m.; sealed containers 8 a.m.–midnight. Christmas sealed ban deleted by Laws 2024, ch. 205 (SB24-231), eff. Aug. 7, 2024.
- Colorado General Assembly SB24-231 (signed May 18, 2024): “The act allows alcohol beverage sales on Christmas.”
- Colorado LED Bulletin 24-02 (Dec. 16, 2024): Christmas Day sales permitted; no duty to open.
- C.R.S. § 44-3-911 + SB24-020: takeout/delivery 7 a.m.–midnight; sunset repealed.
- Colorado Liquor Licensing Handbook 2024 (LCS R24-656): same on/off/takeout windows.
- No county table. Age 21.