Overview

The LCBO API provides access to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario product catalog, including wines, spirits, and beers sold in Ontario, Canada. It requires a free API key and lets you search products, browse stores, and check inventory. It is a good intermediate-level API for building beverage discovery or inventory tracking apps.

Beginner Tip

Request your free API key at lcboapi.com and include it as a query parameter (?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY) in every request URL — forgetting it returns a 401 error.

Available Data

The kind of data this API exposes, based on its documentation. We could not call the endpoint to confirm the exact field names.

Use case: Integrate alcohol data into web and mobile applications
LCBO data via REST API

Example Response

Illustrative shape only — we were not able to call this endpoint (it requires credentials or exposes no public sample URL), so the fields below show the kind of data this API returns rather than a recorded response.

JSON Response · Illustrative
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "result": "Data from LCBO",
    "description": "Alcohol",
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Field Reference

id Unique LCBO product identifier.
name Full product name as listed in the LCBO catalog.
primary_category Top-level category such as "Wine", "Spirits", or "Beer".
price_in_cents Retail price in Canadian cents (divide by 100 for dollars).
alcohol_content Alcohol by volume expressed as a percentage multiplied by 100 (e.g., 1350 = 13.5%).
origin Country or region of origin for the product.

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://lcboapi.com/products?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY&q=chardonnay";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

401 Unauthorized The access_key query parameter is missing or the key is invalid.
✓ Append ?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY to every request URL. Sign up at lcboapi.com to obtain a free key.
Empty result set The search term does not match any LCBO products, or the product is out of season or discontinued.
✓ Try broader search terms and check the total_count field in the response to confirm whether any results exist.
Missing items on later pages By default only the first page of results is returned (per_page=10).
✓ Use the pager object in the response to iterate pages: add &page=2, &page=3, etc., until pager.is_final_page is true.

Metadata Score Breakdown

Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested

This score is estimated from observable metadata — HTTPS support, authentication model, declared CORS, and documentation reachability — because the API requires authentication or exposes no publicly testable endpoint. The five-signal breakdown is only shown for live-tested APIs.

Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested

Technical Specifications

Auth API Key
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Food & Drink
Difficulty Intermediate
Listing details not endpoint-verified

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