[2] Shortly after passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the sale of alcohol nationwide, a joke about BYOL replacing RSVP on formal invitations began circulating in newspapers across the country.
The joke appeared as early as June 1919 in the Des Moines (Iowa) Daily News,[3] and was in wide circulation by the end of the year.
[2] BYOB appeared occasionally during the 1920s, and when defined was usually rendered as "bring your own booze", although "beer", "bottle" and "beverage" were all suggested on at least one occasion.
But when BYOB became more popular in the 1950s, it was regularly defined as "bring your own bottle", frequently in circumstances involving restaurants without liquor licenses.
The license generally prohibits the business from selling its own stock of alcoholic beverages and may require that patrons be members of the establishment.
[citation needed] In the United States, no license is required for private clubs that do not sell alcohol but allow patrons to bring their own.
It is believed that restaurants in Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, were advertising as "BYO" establishments by the 1960s with the concept becoming popular in New Zealand in the late 1970s.