Alaska requires an Alcohol Server Card (required within 30 days of employment; renew every 3 years). Every figure below is verified against the official source and dated.

What it’s called

Alaska issues an alcohol server education card — the completion card for the board-required alcohol server education course under AS 04.21.025, issued by a board-approved course provider. It is a training card, not a license. “Bartender license,” “servers license,” “serving license” and “alcohol server license” are common informal names for the same card. In Alaska a liquor license is the establishment’s credential from the ABC Board; the individual who serves holds the server-education card.

Quick facts

  • Requirement level: State-mandated — required within 30 days of employment; renew every 3 years
  • Valid for: 3 years
  • Who needs it & when: Any licensee or permittee who sells or serves alcoholic beverages, and their agents and employees who sell or serve alcohol or check a patron’s identification — and, as summarized by AMCO, supervisors and persons providing security at licensed businesses — must complete an approved alcohol server education course and pass the written test within 30 days of being licensed, permitted, or employed, and must keep the card on the licensed premises during working hours. For permitted events under AS 04.09.600–04.09.710, a person must hold a valid card before the event, with no 30-day grace period. The requirement does not apply to certain licenses that do not sell or serve to the public — brewery, winery, and distillery manufacturer licenses without a sampling endorsement, general and limited wholesale licenses, and manufacturer direct-shipment licenses (AS 04.21.025(f)) — or to common carrier dispensary licensees (airlines, cruise ships, railroads): under AS 04.21.025(e), a common carrier trains its own agents and employees who sell or serve alcohol or check a patron’s identification under the carrier’s in-house program (which the carrier must describe to the board once every three years) instead of the board-approved course, so those employees do not obtain the AMCO server education card.
  • Who issues it: Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board, administered by the Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office (AMCO) within the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. The board approves the courses; the board-approved course provider issues the completion card.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

Two groups are outside the board-approved course and card requirement. (1) Common carrier dispensary licensees and their staff (AS 04.21.025(e)): airlines, cruise ships, and railroads train their own agents and employees who sell or serve alcoholic beverages or check a patron’s identification on the specified provisions of state liquor law under the carrier’s in-house program — the carrier must provide the board a description of that program (subjects taught, teaching method, testing required) once every three years — so these employees are not required to complete a board-approved course or hold the server education card. (2) Holders of licenses that do not sell or serve to the public (AS 04.21.025(f)): brewery, winery, and distillery manufacturer licenses without a sampling endorsement, general wholesale licenses, limited wholesale (brewed beverage and wine) licenses, and manufacturer direct-shipment licenses. 3 AAC 305.700(a) ties the regulation’s card duty to the same statute (“Unless exempt under AS 04.21.025(f)…”). No other exemptions found; tiers searched: AS 04.21.025 full text (akleg.gov, live 2026-07-12), 3 AAC 305 Article 7 (official ABC Board compilation, eff. 5/15/2025), and AMCO’s Mandatory Alcohol Server Training page.

Approved training providers

Courses must be approved by the ABC Board. A provider applies on Form AB-10 (Alcohol Server Education Course Provider Application) under AS 04.21.025 and 3 AAC 305.700, and the board reviews/reapproves each course at least once every three years. Individuals obtain the card from a board-approved provider, online or in person. The currently approved courses are Training for Alcohol Professionals (TAP, offered through Alaska CHARR), TIPS (offered through 360training / Alaska Hospitality Retailers), and Alaska Responsible Serving of Alcohol (Rserving).

County exceptions

None — the individual server-training mandate is uniform statewide. Many rural Alaska communities are “local option” areas that limit or prohibit alcohol sales under AS 04.11.491, but that governs whether alcohol may be sold, not the individual server card.