The first thing we tell guests planning their grocery run: there is no beer aisle on this island. Ocean City has been dry since before it had streets, and once you understand how the system works, it takes about five minutes of planning per week and gives back a beach town unlike any other on the Jersey Shore.
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 real, not marketing. In 1879, four Methodist ministers purchased 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 baked 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 budge. Nearly 150 years later, the town that calls itself “America’s Greatest Family Resort” still holds the line, and residents keep voting to hold it.
What “dry” actually 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, period. You will not find a liquor store, a bar, a brewery, or a restaurant wine list on the entire 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 discreet beach beer is fine. It is not, and enforcement is real in peak season. What the rules do not reach is private property, which is where BYO actually 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 playbook for generations: stop at a liquor store on the mainland, stock the rental fridge, and enjoy 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 we give guests: 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 myth we correct most often, because plenty of shore towns do allow it and online lists blur the difference. In Ocean City, restaurants informally tolerated corkscrews until a 1984 ordinance banned the practice outright, and when a 2012 referendum offered voters the chance to allow limited BYOB, they said no by a margin of 3,137 to 1,425. So do not carry a bottle of wine into an Ocean City restaurant expecting corkage; the staff cannot legally accommodate you. The workaround that has emerged 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 actively selling memberships for 2026. A few other restaurants have experimented with the model over the years, so if a members club matters to your week, call ahead and ask; formats change. One more wrinkle worth knowing: even where New Jersey permits BYO, state law covers wine and beer only, never spirits, so the dinner club bottle should be a cabernet, 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 practically an Ocean City tradition in itself. 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 serious wine selection, and more than 65 years of practice serving people making exactly this stop. If you come in the back way toward the south end, Boulevard Super Liquors in Marmora, off Roosevelt Boulevard on the 34th Street approach, does the same job with a deep beer and wine room. Either way, the strategy is identical: make the stop on the drive in, buy the whole week at once, and you will never think about it again. Nobody wants to leave the island midweek for a forgotten six-pack.
Why families love the dry-town vibe
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 never choose a “dry town” on paper come back every summer because of it.
We will be honest: “dry town” sounded like a drawback to us once too. Then you spend a week here and understand it is the feature. The boardwalk at 10 p.m. is packed with kids on scooters and grandparents with soft serve, not bar traffic. The beach soundtrack is waves and lifeguard whistles. Nights end with mini golf standings and taffy debates rather than anything you would shield young eyes from. That is not an accident; it is a 147-year-old design decision, and it is why the same families, ours included, return every summer. You give up the convenience of a corner liquor store and get back one of the calmest family beach towns on the Jersey Shore. Most of our guests decide that trade is a bargain by day two.
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.