WOODBURY, Conn. — The end of one era and the beginning of a new one fell on Connecticut at precisely 10 a.m. on Sunday. And whether you bemoaned the one or celebrated the other was dictated by how you viewed the expiration of a longstanding law that had prohibited the sale of alcohol on Sundays.

At the eclectic home of Brooks Titcomb, some 40 people made their preference clear by gathering to partake in the fruits of shopping trips performed earlier in the day.

“This is like Prohibition just ended, for God’s sake,” Mr. Titcomb said as he poured a sizable Hendrick’s gin from the bottle he had bought earlier from a liquor store in Southbury. “People are dancing in the streets.”

But Mr. Titcomb, the owner of Woodbury Pewter, said that similar thoughts he had posted on Facebook were not universally admired. “I actually lost a few friends over it,” he said. “They think we should be in church on Sundays, not getting sauced.”