The ABCC is the sole agency in Massachusetts responsible for directly licensing or permitting specific participants in the alcoholic beverages industry in Massachusetts. All manufacturers of alcoholic beverages, all wholesalers and importers, all out-of-state suppliers of alcoholic beverages, all brokers, all salesman, all warehouses, all planes, trains, ships, ship chandlers and most every motor vehicle transporting alcoholic beverages in Massachusetts require direct licensing from the ABCC. Approximately 10,000 such licenses and permits are issued by the ABCC each year.

The ABCC must also approve the granting of every retail pouring or package store license application allowed by a city or town. There are approximately 10,000 annual, retail pouring or package store licenses in Massachusetts. There are approximately 2,000 seasonal retail pouring or package store licenses. The members of the ABCC's licensing division coordinate and process the annual renewals of these 12,000 retail licenses. The licensing division also receives, coordinates and processes approximately 3,000 licensing transactions per year. There are 14 dry towns in Massachusetts that do not offer retail liquor licenses.

This section of the site provides information about the licensing process and aims to answer many of the questions applicants for retail liquor licenses may have. This section also contains the Blue Book explaining what information the ABCC requires from cities/towns to approve retail license applications (cities and towns may require additional information). This section of the site also includes types of licenses, fees and links to relevant laws, and information about special licenses.