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Liquor law and licensee duties: practice quiz

Questions on the parts of BC’s Liquor Control and Licensing Act, Regulation and licence terms that servers and managers deal with every shift.

Liquor law and licensee duties: practice quiz

About 10 questions, answers explained as you go

Like the real test, you pass with 80%. A new random set every time, from 124 questions.

Key rules

  • Serve only during the hours on your licence. The regulation’s widest window is 9 a.m. to 4 a.m.
  • Bars: patrons out of the service area within half an hour of the end of service. Restaurants: liquor off the tables within half an hour.
  • No drinking on shift, including breaks and meal periods.
  • Maximum single servings: 3 oz spirits, 24 oz draught beer, 10 oz wine.
  • Liquor delivery drivers must be 19 or older and SIR certified.
  • Keep staff certificate records and incident logs for at least six years.

Study every question

Liquor law and licensee responsibilities (32)

Under BC’s liquor regulation, the widest window a liquor primary licence can allow for liquor service is…

Answer: 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. the next day

The regulation says liquor service can start no earlier than 9 a.m. and end no later than 4 a.m. the next day. Your own hours are the ones printed on your licence, which can be shorter.

When are you allowed to serve liquor?

Answer: Only during the hours shown on your licence, permit or authorization

You may sell or serve liquor only during the hours on your licence, permit or authorization.

A bar’s liquor service ends at 1 a.m. By when must every patron be out of the service area?

Answer: 1:30 a.m.

In a liquor primary, patrons must be cleared from the service area within half an hour after liquor service ends.

In a restaurant (food primary), what has to happen within 30 minutes of the end of liquor service?

Answer: Liquor, drinks and glassware must be taken from patrons

Food primary and catering: liquor is removed from patrons within half an hour. Diners can stay; it’s bars that must clear patrons out.

Your bar’s hours of liquor service are over. Can you let new patrons in?

Answer: No, patrons must not be let in outside the permitted hours

You must not allow patrons to enter outside the permitted hours of liquor service.

A server wants a beer on their break, partway through a shift. Is that allowed?

Answer: No, staff can’t drink liquor during working hours, including breaks and meal periods

Licensees and staff can’t drink liquor at work during working hours. That includes breaks, meal periods and the time between shifts on the same day.

A server’s shift is over. When may they have a drink in the service area?

Answer: When they’re of legal drinking age, it’s during the hours of sale, and the drink isn’t given in place of wages

After work, staff may drink in the service area if they’re of legal drinking age, it’s during the licence’s hours of sale, and liquor isn’t offered in place of wages or as a bonus.

Can you refill an original bottle bought from the Liquor Distribution Branch?

Answer: No, original containers must never be refilled

Original containers bought from the Liquor Distribution Branch can’t be refilled with anything. That keeps unlawful liquor out of your stock.

Can a bar pre-mix a batch of drinks (for example in a Bellini machine) before anyone orders?

Answer: Yes, if the liquor comes from original containers bought from the Liquor Distribution Branch

Pre-mixing by hand or with a device is allowed, as long as the liquor came from original containers bought from the Liquor Distribution Branch.

Where is “Bring Your Own Wine” allowed in BC?

Answer: In food primary restaurants that choose to allow it, which may charge a corkage fee

A food primary restaurant may let customers bring an unopened, commercially made bottle of wine to drink with food, and may charge corkage.

A couple can’t finish their bottle of wine before liquor service ends. What can staff offer?

Answer: Re-seal the bottle so they can take it home

Staff may re-seal an unfinished bottle of wine for the patron to take away.

Which unfinished drink can a restaurant seal for a patron to take away?

Answer: A partly finished bottle of wine

Wine is the only drink you may offer to seal for take-away.

In a liquor primary, what’s the largest serving of spirits one patron can have at a time?

Answer: 3 oz (85 ml)

Distilled liquor: single servings of no more than 3 fl oz (85 ml) per person at a time, even in a shared pitcher.

What’s the maximum single serving of draught beer for one patron?

Answer: 24 oz (682 ml)

Draught beer and cider: no more than 24 oz (682 ml) per serving. A pitcher of up to 60 oz is only for two or more patrons sharing.

What’s the maximum single serving of wine by the glass?

Answer: 10 oz

Wine: single servings of up to 10 oz (284 ml). A 750 ml bottle is allowed when at least two patrons share it with food.

A patron at the bar orders a 12 oz beer and a 5 oz glass of wine, both for themselves. Can you serve both at once?

Answer: Yes, because together they don’t go over two standard drinks

The maximum serving can be split into different types of drinks as long as the total isn’t more than two standard drinks.

Can a pub give the winning trivia team a free round of drinks as the prize?

Answer: No, liquor can’t be offered or given as a prize

Games of skill and contests are fine, but liquor can’t be offered or given as a prize.

A group asks to play a drinking game at their table. What do you do?

Answer: Say no: drinking games aren’t allowed, even played without liquor

You must not provide or allow activities designed to encourage drinking, and that includes drinking games, with or without liquor.

Your liquor licence allows 120 people, but the venue’s occupant load set by the fire authority is 100. How many people can you have inside?

Answer: 100

You must not exceed your licence capacity or the venue’s maximum occupant load, so the lower number is your limit.

Who may deliver liquor with a take-out meal on a restaurant’s behalf?

Answer: A person 19 or older who is Serving It Right certified

Anyone delivering liquor for the licensee, staff or a third-party driver, must be 19 or older and SIR certified. Common carriers like Canada Post are the exception.

You arrive with a liquor delivery and the customer at the door is clearly intoxicated. What do you do?

Answer: Don’t hand over the liquor

Liquor may only be delivered to people who are 19 or older and not intoxicated.

Under the licence terms, who must complete Serving It Right in a bar or restaurant?

Answer: The licensee, managers and anyone who sells or serves liquor

SIR must be completed by licensees, managers (staff who supervise the sale or service of liquor) and servers (staff who sell or serve liquor).

How long must a licensee keep a record of each employee’s SIR certificate number and expiry date?

Answer: At least six years

Licensees keep records for at least six years showing each employee’s name, SIR certificate number and expiry date.

A liquor inspector asks to see your staff’s SIR certificate numbers. The licensee must…

Answer: Produce the record on request

The record of certificate numbers and expiry dates must be produced to a liquor inspector or peace officer on request.

What must every licensee display in the service area?

Answer: At least one social responsibility poster or tent card

Licensees must display at least one social responsibility poster or tent card in a prominent spot in the service area.

On New Year’s Eve, how late may a bar serve liquor if food is available?

Answer: Until 4 a.m. on January 1, unless local bylaws prohibit it

On New Year’s Eve you may serve until 4 a.m. on January 1, whatever your usual closing hour, as long as food is available and local bylaws allow it.

For an offence such as serving a minor, what’s the maximum fine for an individual who isn’t a licensee?

Answer: $10,000, and up to 6 months in jail

An individual who isn’t a licensee faces a fine of up to $10,000, up to 6 months in jail, or both. Licensees and corporations face fines of up to $50,000.

If liquor is served to a minor, what’s the minimum penalty for the licensed establishment?

Answer: A 7-day licence suspension or a $7,000 fine

The minimum penalty for serving a minor is a 7-day licence suspension or a $7,000 fine.

Police on a visit find a bar overcrowded. What do they usually record the problem on?

Answer: A Licensed Premises Check form, with a copy sent to the LCRB

Police record violations on a Licensed Premises Check form, leave a copy with the licensee and send one to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, which may follow up.

Who can suspend or cancel a liquor licence or impose a monetary penalty?

Answer: The general manager of the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch

The general manager administers the Act and can impose terms and conditions, suspend or cancel a licence, and impose monetary penalties.

Staff notice a patron has brought their own bottle of vodka into the bar. What must happen?

Answer: Ask the patron to leave right away and record it in the incident log

If a patron brings unlawful liquor into the establishment, they must be asked to leave immediately, and it goes in the incident log.

Can a caterer drop off the liquor at an event and leave?

Answer: No, catering staff must be there whenever liquor is consumed

No liquor drop-off: catering staff must be present at a catered event whenever liquor is being consumed.

Sources

Updated October 26, 2026. Not affiliated with the Government of British Columbia, the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch or the Serving It Right program.

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