Updated July 2026.
Tennessee’s beer default is no sale midnight–6:00 a.m., and no sale midnight Saturday–11:59 p.m. Sunday (T.C.A. § 57-5-301(b)(1)). Cities and Class B counties may rewrite that and authorize Sunday. The 8:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. (Sunday 10:00 a.m.) clock is liquor stores and grocery wine — T.C.A. § 57-3-406 / TABC — not the beer cooler. Age 21.
Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga do not use the statewide Sunday shutdown. If you are in an unincorporated county that never extended hours, treat Sunday as closed until you read the resolution. Packaged liquor is a different license (Title 57, ch. 3). Do not use this page as a whiskey-store answer.
Beer vs the package-store clock
| Rule | What it says |
|---|---|
| Statewide default nights (beer) | No beer sale midnight–6:00 a.m. (§ 57-5-301(b)(1)) |
| Statewide default Sunday (beer) | No beer sale midnight Saturday–11:59 p.m. Sunday |
| Counties | May extend beer hours by resolution. CTAS: they may not shorten the default |
| Municipalities / Class B counties | May fix hours and authorize Sunday beer by ordinance ((b)(3)) |
| On-premise beer consumption | No open container after 12:15 a.m. on a beer-permitted premises (same subsection) |
| Liquor store / grocery wine | 8:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Mon–Sat; 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Sunday (TABC FAQ quoting § 57-3-406). Closed Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter. That is not grocery beer |
| On-premise liquor-by-the-drink | Separate ABC rule (often 3:00 a.m. close) — not this beer statute |
Tennessee Comptroller CTAS and the 2026 MTAS beer guide still quote the same § 57-5-301 text. TABC’s wine-in-grocery FAQ says the 2019 Sunday wine change “will have no impact on the hours in which beer can be sold” — call the local beer board. We will not invent a 95-county Sunday map. Pages that print “8 a.m.–11 p.m. grocery beer statewide” are leaking the package-store clock onto the cooler. Gas stations follow the beer permitgas stations. Neighbor: Georgia.
Sources
- T.C.A. § 57-5-301(b)(1), (3) (2024 compilation; 2026 MTAS guide quotes the same).
- CTAS “Hours of Operation” summary of 57-5-301 (counties may extend, not shorten).
- TABC FAQ (fetched 2026): retail package / retail food-store wine 8:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Mon–Sat, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Sunday; closed Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter. Beer hours = local beer board.
- No county table (would go stale).