Alcohol Beverage Control | FAQs for Servers

You must take and pass an approved Alcohol Server Education Course. The classes are conducted by private providers, so times, locations, and prices vary. View the course schedule and provider listing.

To renew your server certification, you must take another server certification course.

If you haven’t received your card within 120 days after taking the server class, please call our office at 505-476-4875.

Anyone who serves and sells alcoholic beverages and packaged liquor.
This includes owners and lease holders of alcohol licenses; owners of beer and wine licenses; bartenders, bouncers, waiters, waitresses, convenience- and grocery store clerks; and resident agents.

Only individuals 21 years of age and older may sell or serve alcohol in bars, lounges, convenience, grocery, and package stores.
18 to 20 year olds may obtain a permit to sell or serve alcohol in a full-service restaurant with meals, but may not be a bartender.

Yes, as long as the old vertical ID is present with the temporary horizontal ID when the alcohol sale is completed.

Any ID card issued by a federal, state, or municipal government that contains a picture of the person and a birth date showing they are 21 years of age or older.
Some examples are a driver’s license, non-driver ID, military ID, or a passport.
State-issued mobile ID by use of an ISO 18013-5 compliant reader to verify the consumer’s age.
Effective July 1, 2021, the New Mexico state law was revised, for the purposes of the Liquor Control Act an ID is valid even if it has expired.
Except for deliveries of alcoholic beverages, it is unnecessary to ask for ID if the person clearly looks older than 35 years of age.

For Servers