The short version: an acceptable form of ID for alcohol is a current, government-issued photo ID that shows the person's date of birth. A driver's license is the common one, but it isn't the only one.
The details matter, because the wrong call at the door cuts both ways: accept a bad document and you've served someone you can't vouch for, which is where dram shop liability starts; reject a good one and you've turned away a paying, of-age guest. Here's what to accept, what to reject, and why the rules shift by state.
What makes an ID valid
State alcohol regulators describe a valid ID by its characteristics, not just its name. California's ABC, for example, lists six: the card must be issued by a government agency, and show a name, a date of birth, a photograph, a physical description, and a current (unexpired) date.
If a document is missing any one of those, it isn't bona fide identification, whatever it says on the front.
That single rule settles most questions at the door. A student ID has no government issuer. An expired card fails the "current" test. Work from the characteristics and you rarely have to guess.
What to accept, and what to reject
Most states accept the same core set of documents, and reject the same weak ones.
| Accept (in most states) | Usually not acceptable |
|---|---|
| US or Canadian driver's license or state ID | School or college ID |
| US passport or passport card | Any expired document |
| US military ID | Foreign driver's license (varies by state) |
| Tribal enrollment card | A photo or photocopy of an ID |
| Permanent Resident, Global Entry, or NEXUS card | A birth certificate (no photo) |
Washington's Liquor and Cannabis Board publishes a list like this, and it's a good model: every acceptable item is a government-issued card with a photo, a birth date, and (except military IDs) a signature.
It varies by state, so know yours
This is the part that trips people up: the accept list is not identical everywhere.
California does not accept a foreign driver's license, but it does accept a foreign passport. Washington accepts a Canadian driver's license outright. Oregon spells out its own list, down to NEXUS and tribal cards.
The safe move is to check your own state's ABC or liquor board page and set a house policy from it. This is general information, not legal advice, and your jurisdiction's rules are the ones that bind you.
The edge cases you'll actually hit
A handful of documents come up again and again. Here's how to treat them.
None of this replaces the rest of the check. A valid document type still has to be genuine and belong to the person holding it, which is how to spot a fake ID territory.
Where a scan fits
A scanner reads the PDF417 barcode on a driver's license or state ID and does the age and expiry math in a second. That covers the most common document by far.
But it only reads what has a readable barcode. A passport has no PDF417 code, so you check it by hand, and the scanner never decides whether a document type is acceptable in the first place. That call is yours.
So use the scan for what it does well, the age math and the record on scannable IDs, and keep the "is this an acceptable document" judgment where it belongs, with a trained person. More on that split in how ID scanners work.
Get the document type right first, then verify it's real and of age. That order, acceptable, then genuine, then old enough, is the whole job at the door.
Carded reads the barcode, checks age, flags expired, and catches the passback, then keeps a clean record, no name, birthday, or ID number stored, so the age check and the proof are handled and your staff can focus on the call only a person can make. See how it works.