Last night, for the first time, I brought a bottle to a restaurant. We were overnighting in Helen Ga (never again unless for Octoberfest). Turns out the county is dry (was until 1/1/09 but no one was ready) and the restaurant website indicated that if you wanted a drink, you brought your own. I emailed to confirm they were open for New Years day and that BYOB was still appropriate. The response was yes. I have to say it was refreshing to enjoy a good bottle of wine without the 3X mark-up. The corkage fee was only $2 per person and they waived that and brought us free apple strudel when we said it was our anniversary. Id like to do this again. Is it appropriate to do so even when a restaurant has a winelist? I know when restaurants permit this, the corkage fee is generally much more than $2. I guess if it were $20, I'd want to make sure the wine wasn't just everyday stuff. Anybody make a habit of BYOB?

BYOB is generally acceptable providing you bring a damn good bottle of wine and the restaurant does not sell the bottle you bring.

$20 seems about right (which could still amount to a nice savings).

In this case, I had paid around $32, so might have saved around $40 after a corkage fee elsewhere.

Good point about not bringing something on their winelist. I don't think that would have occurred to me.

Definitely Ok, even in places like Northern California where wine is legal and most good restaurants have good wine lists. I tend to drink older (6+ year) high end white wines, and virtually no places have a decent list of vintage white wines, so we usually BYOB. As long as its clear you're not just doing it to avoid paying their markup, but rather are bringing something that is not comparable to what's on their list, you'll be in good shape.

Part of the reason for higher corkage fees is to encourage you to buy off their list, but even so a $50 or up wine plus corkage will always be cheaper than a comparable wine from a restaurant list, even if they offer something similar.

If the restaurant has a decent wine list and/or sommelier, it's also polite to offer the server or wine person a taste of whatever you brought.

Bob

PS: I went to high school in North Georgia, and would have to second the recommendation to avoid Helen under pretty much all circumstances.

Many countries have tiered alcohol licenses:

A. No liquor at all
B. BYO allowed
C. Full service

A modest corkage fee is acceptable.

I bring my own wine (and have been doing so for 10 years) at least half the time. In my area of Nor Cal $10 corkage is fair $15 is normal and $20 is pushing it. There are a few restaurants that pride themselves on having $0 corkage. Those same places also have fantastic values on their wine list (wines priced at retail so they are still making money) so I often don't bring a bottle just to enjoy their great wine list.

In the SF bay area, I frequently bring my own wine. $10 to $20 is a typical charge, and some places with a $20 charge have a reasonably priced wine list with nice selections, so I don't bother, unless I have something I want to drink. If they charge $20 and give me a 50 cent "wine" glass with a thick lip, I find that offensive. If they serve you in fine stemware, then it is justified (and sometimes they will decant, etc.) Often if you buy another bottle, the corkage charge just won't appear. ^ Depending on the local culture, it is completely acceptable.

Mr. Kipper isn't into wine, but we do occasionally BYOB with beer at a local restaurant. They're strictly BYOB for alcohol, and they're one of the few good BBQ places north of the Mason-Dixon line.

duplicate

Most of my favorite restaurants in NJ are BYOB. We are never charged corkage fees. A couple of restaurants have a wine list from the local liquor store and the owner has a delivery kid running bottles back and forth all night long up and down the street to 3 or 4 restaurants. You can either call him table side or have the waiter have the hostess make the call. The kid shows up, you pay him the retail price plus a $3 delivery charge.

Hrm, I thought BYOB was bring your own booyeah

Both "dry" areas and restaurants without liquor licenses remain common in this part of the world. My favorite Mexican restaurant didn't have a liquor license fro several years (until the profits enabled one), so we always brought a cooler of beer. Even now, two of my favorites, a Mexican seafood place and a Korean cafe, don't sell beer or wine, so we continue to bring our own. I don't think of wine with Korean food, and "Siete Mares" tends to overlook the $5 a table "corkage" for regulars.

Has anyone tried BYOB to a restaurant without asking? I'm pretty sure a lot of McDonalds would look unfavorably on a cooler full of beer parked next to my table.

All the time, to places that have liquor licenses. Never to places that don't without asking. It may be against the law in certain places.

why would you want to do that??