This paper explores how the Ottoman state regulated alcohol production, distribution, and consumption networks of Ottoman Istanbul in the 17th century, incredibly well documented in the city’s Islamic court records, the main body of primary sources of this paper. The focus of this research is Galata, the cosmopolitan district of the city and a Mediterranean and Black Sea port. Galata was an essential node in the early modern alcohol networks and famous for its taverns which connected people from diverse backgrounds for consumption, business, and sociability. Although alcohol is forbidden in Islam, Ottoman authorities did not apply a total ban on it. Instead, to contribute to state revenues, they collected taxes from anyone producing and selling alcoholic drinks. From time to time, however, the state criminalized alcohol, banned its sale, and closed taverns that certain periods of the 17th century witnessed quite severe and historically unprecedented attempts in this context. What makes Galata a particularly interesting case is that, despite these bans, state officials continued to collect alcohol taxes and many taverns remained open or reopened soon after their closure. I argue that the state adopted a flexible and pragmatic approach to benefit from Galata’s lucrative alcohol business, especially when the imperial treasury needed income. However, the bans gained importance when alcohol consumption caused disorder in society and the state aimed to show its power by maintaining the public order. At this point, as alcohol was an inseparable part of everyday life, both Ottomans and European visitors resisted the bans and negotiated with the state to maintain their alcohol-related social and economic activities. This paper benefits from microhistory, global history, and global microhistory which is the intersection of small-scale and large-scale analyses offering complementary aspects in historical study. I also employ the “connected histories” approach that explains global movements of people, objects, and ideas with an emphasis on the interconnectivity of the early modern world. In this way, this study aims to offer a comprehensive history of Ottoman Istanbul by zooming in on its local dynamics and zooming out to include its connections with other cities within the global alcohol networks of the 17th-century. By examining the forms and limits of state regulation on alcohol networks, this paper also sheds a brighter light on alcohol’s place in Islamic societies and provides new insights into the crisis and transformation paradigm that has been used by many scholars studying this century.