The first thing we tell anyone planning a grocery run: there is no beer aisle on this island. Ocean City has been dry since before it had streets. Once you know how the system works, it takes about five minutes of planning per week, and in return you get one of the quietest beach towns on the Jersey Shore.
We’re Jenn and Colin. We own a three-bedroom top floor at 12th and Haven and rent it by the week in summer, and we wrote this guide because we get the question every year. If you are still picking a house, our 2027 weeks and prices are all published, which is rarer in this town than it should be.
Why Ocean City is a dry town
Ocean City NJ was founded in 1879 by four Methodist ministers who bought Peck’s Beach to build a Christian seaside retreat. Banning alcohol was written into the founding association’s charter, and the town has never permitted alcohol sales since, keeping the ban long after Prohibition ended everywhere else.
The origin story is documented. In 1879, four Methodist ministers bought the barrier island then called Peck’s Beach and founded the Ocean City Association to build a Christian resort centered on clean living. The prohibition on alcohol was written into the association’s founding charter, formalized through early blue laws, and carried into city law. National Prohibition came and went; Ocean City did not change. Nearly 150 years later, the town still holds the line, and residents keep voting to hold it.
What “dry” means here
Dry means no alcohol is sold anywhere in Ocean City city limits: no liquor stores, no bars, no beer with your pizza, no wine list at any restaurant. It also means no drinking in public. A 1958 ordinance bans alcohol consumption in public areas, including the beach, boardwalk, and streets.
Two separate rules do the work. The first is the sales ban: no business in Ocean City sells alcohol. There is no liquor store, bar, brewery, or restaurant wine list on the island. The second is the public consumption ban, on the books since 1958: no drinking on the beach, the boardwalk, the streets, or in parks. That one surprises visitors who assume a beach beer is fine. It is not, and the city enforces it in peak season. The rules do not reach private property, which is where BYO lives.
What you can do
Visitors can bring alcohol into Ocean City for private consumption where the property owner permits it: a rental house deck, a porch, a backyard barbecue. Buying happens outside city limits before you cross a bridge. The system is bring your own, drink it privately, and keep it off the beach and boardwalk.
Ocean City is dry, not teetotal. Families have run the same plan for generations: stop at a liquor store on the mainland, stock the rental fridge, and have a beer after the beach or wine with dinner on the porch. Private consumption on private property, where the owner permits it, is how it works; check your rental’s house rules for the specifics. The one-sentence version: buy it before the bridge, drink it at the house, and never carry it toward the sand.
The truth about BYOB restaurants
Ocean City restaurants are not BYOB. A 1984 city ordinance prohibits bringing your own bottle to restaurants, and voters rejected legalizing it in a 2012 referendum by more than two to one. The legal exception is membership dinner clubs, like Dockside Kitchen on Bay Avenue, where members may bring wine or beer.
This is the most common misunderstanding, because plenty of shore towns do allow it and online lists blur the difference. In Ocean City, restaurants tolerated corkscrews until a 1984 ordinance banned the practice, and when a 2012 referendum offered voters the chance to allow limited BYOB, they said no, 3,137 to 1,425. Do not carry a bottle of wine into an Ocean City restaurant expecting corkage; the staff cannot legally serve it. The workaround is the membership dinner club. Dockside Kitchen at 228 Bay Avenue runs the best-known one, a members-only evening seating on the bay where you bring your own wine or beer with dinner, and it is selling memberships for 2026. A few other restaurants have tried the model over the years, so if a members club matters to your week, call ahead and ask; formats change. One more point: even where New Jersey permits BYO, state law covers wine and beer only, never spirits, so the dinner club bottle is wine or beer, not bourbon.
The liquor run: Somers Point and Marmora
Circle Liquors, at 1 MacArthur Boulevard in Somers Point beside the traffic circle before the 9th Street bridge, is the traditional pre-island stop and has operated for over 65 years. Coming in from the south, Boulevard Super Liquors in Marmora, off Roosevelt Boulevard near the 34th Street approach, covers that route.
The liquor run is an Ocean City tradition. If you arrive over the Route 52 causeway and 9th Street bridge, Circle Liquors sits at the Somers Point traffic circle just before you cross: a big store, a deep wine selection, and more than 65 years of serving people making this stop. If you come in from the south, Boulevard Super Liquors in Marmora, off Roosevelt Boulevard on the 34th Street approach, does the same job with a large beer and wine room. Either way, the plan is the same: make the stop on the drive in, buy the whole week at once, and you will not think about it again. Nobody wants to leave the island midweek for a forgotten six-pack.
Why the dry town works for families
The dry town rules are the quiet reason Ocean City feels the way it does: a boardwalk with no bar crowds, beaches without party coolers, and evenings built around mini golf and ice cream. Families who might not choose a “dry town” on paper come back every summer because of it.
“Dry town” sounded like a drawback to us once too. Then you spend a week here and it is the feature. The boardwalk at 10pm is full of kids on scooters and grandparents with soft serve, not bar traffic. The beach sounds like waves and lifeguard whistles. Nights end with mini golf scores and taffy choices, nothing you would shield young eyes from. That is by design, and it is 147 years old. It is why the same families, ours included, return every summer. You give up the corner liquor store and get one of the calmest family beach towns on the Jersey Shore.
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy alcohol in Ocean City NJ?
No. Ocean City NJ has banned alcohol sales since its founding as a Methodist retreat in 1879, and no store, restaurant, or bar in city limits sells it. Visitors who want wine or beer buy it before crossing the bridge, traditionally at Circle Liquors in Somers Point, and drink privately at their rental.
Can you drink alcohol on the beach or boardwalk in Ocean City NJ?
No. A city ordinance dating to 1958 prohibits consuming alcohol in public areas, which includes the beach, the boardwalk, streets, and parks. Drinking in Ocean City happens on private property, such as a rental home's porch or deck, where the property owner permits it.
Are Ocean City NJ restaurants BYOB?
No. A 1984 ordinance prohibits BYOB in Ocean City restaurants, and voters kept the ban in a 2012 referendum. The exception is membership dinner clubs, such as Dockside Kitchen on Bay Avenue, where members can bring wine or beer with dinner. Everywhere else, dinner is soda and lemonade.
Where is the closest liquor store to Ocean City NJ?
Circle Liquors at 1 MacArthur Boulevard in Somers Point, right at the traffic circle before the 9th Street bridge, is the traditional stop and has served the area for over 65 years. Entering from the south end, Boulevard Super Liquors in Marmora, off Roosevelt Boulevard, covers the 34th Street approach.
Why is Ocean City NJ a dry town?
Four Methodist ministers founded Ocean City in 1879 as a Christian seaside retreat, and the ban on alcohol was written into the founding association's charter. The town has never allowed alcohol sales since, keeping the ban through Prohibition's repeal and reaffirming it by referendum as recently as 2012.
