New Years Eve 2017. My husband and I are recent drinkers. As in that night I bought my first alcoholic beverage from an Applebees and his first taste of alcohol was from that same beverage. But we wanted to see how much it would take to get buzzed, and rather than do it in public, we decided to purchase some beer from a local grocery store. Keep in mind that most grocery stores in Utah will not sell beer on Sunday's, but it's not a consistent rule. We lucked out, though. We mixed and matched a 6 pack of bottles- mostly just hard ciders and sodas. I'm not convinced that I like the taste of beer, but the ciders and sodas don't have the same bitter taste. Once up at the register, however, the cashier took one look at the beer and told us that she could smell alcohol on us and that since she could smell alcohol she couldn't sell us the beer. I thought she was joking. So did my husband. But she didn't move to scan the beer. Just stared at us. Apologized. Reiterated what she had already stated. We ended up taking the beer through the self check-out line and the lady there didn't even bother to card my husband, which I was entertained by, given the very recent exchange we'd just had with her co-worker. Anyway, the moral of the anecdote is that if you "smell" of alcohol, some people won't sell you beer. I don't know if this is just a Utah thing. I do know that if an individual is acting drunk or belligerent then cashiers do not have to sell the beer, but just the smell?
Updated 1/21/2018