Thirsty Thursday Eve - North Carolina Liquor Laws
Liquor laws in the United States are really weird, and I’ve learned recently how the differences between states can highlight that weirdness. Working in North Carolina now, and visiting liquor stores in that state, I’m beginning to see yet more alcohol law madness.
I was born and raised in South Carolina, and the vast majority of my distilled spirit purchase have been in that state. Aside from a single bottle I purchased in Tennessee, everything else came from the sandlapper state that I call home. South Carolina liquor laws are definitely strange, but I’ve at least been exposed to them enough that I’m mostly familiar with them. I’ll occasionally forget what day of the week it is and try to buy liquor on Sunday, but I always know you have to pick your poison before 7pm.
Now that I work in North Carolina, I’ve started going by a liquor store near my office some. This has introduced me to a few of the nuances between state laws. The earliest difference that I encountered was the forced hours of operation. When I ran by the store on my lunch break one day, I noticed that the store didn’t close until 9pm. That blew my mind. Given all my 6:45pm mad dashes to my local store, that extra 2 hours seemed remarkably generous. If I’m going to drink at all, I’ve definitely started before 9 in the evening.
Given that extra 2 hours, I decided to do some research and find out what else might be different in North Carolina. Turns out, North Carolina is one of 17 states considered “Alcoholic Beverage Control” states. That’s where the ABC comes from, with liquor stores. This apparently stems from the period immediately after the Prohibition era. To restrict the newly legal sale of alcohol, states owned the exclusive rights to alcohol distribution. Some states never opened that back up to private enterprise. Hence, these states still have an Alcoholic Beverage Control board, which handles alcohol sales within the state. Now you know.
On a related note, the state of North Carolina mandates prices for liquor, and these prices are the same at every store in the state. Whether you pick up a fifth of Jim Beam up in the mountains of western North Carolina, or on the coast of the outer banks, it will cost the exact same. I thought that was a really neat situation, and eliminates the need to shop around and try to find the cheapest place to stock up for your weekend adventures. According to some, this results in higher prices for liquor stores in North Carolina than other states, but my casual research seems to indicate prices are pretty similar.
Up until this point, things seemed mostly normal to me. It makes perfect sense that states would have control of alcohol distribution, especially after Prohibition. I could definitely see how some of these states would keep that control, especially in some of the more religious areas of the country. Can’t let people make their own decisions, after all, we have to enforce our own moral code through laws. Mandated prices would prevent price gouging in specific areas. Everything seemed reasonable.
Then, I learned that there are monthly discounts in specific products in particular counties. For the entire month of September 2020, a 1.75L handle of Jim Beam Black is cut from $47.95 per bottle to $44.95 each, a savings of $3 over the normal price. That struck me as remarkably strange. I understand that private businesses will occasionally discount products, and I suppose it follows that the ABC board might do the same, but I thought it weird to do that at a state or county level. I also can’t determine if there is rhyme or reason for what is discounted, or in which counties, but that’s something I’ll have to do more research on. There is a nice little report generator that will allow you to see what discounts are in any given month, and that seems to be at the state level. I have a spreadsheet of December 2020 specials attached, for informational purposes.
Beyond monthly discounts, North Carolina prevents happy hour specials at establishments that serve alcohol. However, they allow daily specials such as ladies’ night or BOGO days. As for why one is fine, but not the other, I have no idea. I would expect that state mandated prices with monthly special lists would cover all of the price variation possible, but I guess not. In any case, don’t worry about getting to the bar before 6pm, the price is the same all day long. Might not hurt to make a point to go on Tuesday, though, if your favorite watering hole does BOGO Long Island Iced Tea that day. North Carolina, you are so weird.
I definitely want to start doing some research and see just how the prices compare. At least with the monthly sales in North Carolina, it may behoove me to scope out specific bottles and buy them while they’re on sale. I could certainly check out what’s on sale at the beginning of the month, and make a point to note prices on both sides of the border. If nothing else, this gives me incentive to try new things each month if they’re on sale in North Carolina, and cheaper than anything I can find in South Carolina.
Sources:
https://www.meckabc.com/Products-Monthly-Specials
http://wakeabc.com/monthly-specials/
http://wakeabc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/September-2020.pdf
https://abc.nc.gov/
https://abc.nc.gov/Pricing
https://abc.nc.gov/Pricing/MonthlyReductions/3
I was born and raised in South Carolina, and the vast majority of my distilled spirit purchase have been in that state. Aside from a single bottle I purchased in Tennessee, everything else came from the sandlapper state that I call home. South Carolina liquor laws are definitely strange, but I’ve at least been exposed to them enough that I’m mostly familiar with them. I’ll occasionally forget what day of the week it is and try to buy liquor on Sunday, but I always know you have to pick your poison before 7pm.
Now that I work in North Carolina, I’ve started going by a liquor store near my office some. This has introduced me to a few of the nuances between state laws. The earliest difference that I encountered was the forced hours of operation. When I ran by the store on my lunch break one day, I noticed that the store didn’t close until 9pm. That blew my mind. Given all my 6:45pm mad dashes to my local store, that extra 2 hours seemed remarkably generous. If I’m going to drink at all, I’ve definitely started before 9 in the evening.
Given that extra 2 hours, I decided to do some research and find out what else might be different in North Carolina. Turns out, North Carolina is one of 17 states considered “Alcoholic Beverage Control” states. That’s where the ABC comes from, with liquor stores. This apparently stems from the period immediately after the Prohibition era. To restrict the newly legal sale of alcohol, states owned the exclusive rights to alcohol distribution. Some states never opened that back up to private enterprise. Hence, these states still have an Alcoholic Beverage Control board, which handles alcohol sales within the state. Now you know.
On a related note, the state of North Carolina mandates prices for liquor, and these prices are the same at every store in the state. Whether you pick up a fifth of Jim Beam up in the mountains of western North Carolina, or on the coast of the outer banks, it will cost the exact same. I thought that was a really neat situation, and eliminates the need to shop around and try to find the cheapest place to stock up for your weekend adventures. According to some, this results in higher prices for liquor stores in North Carolina than other states, but my casual research seems to indicate prices are pretty similar.
Up until this point, things seemed mostly normal to me. It makes perfect sense that states would have control of alcohol distribution, especially after Prohibition. I could definitely see how some of these states would keep that control, especially in some of the more religious areas of the country. Can’t let people make their own decisions, after all, we have to enforce our own moral code through laws. Mandated prices would prevent price gouging in specific areas. Everything seemed reasonable.
Then, I learned that there are monthly discounts in specific products in particular counties. For the entire month of September 2020, a 1.75L handle of Jim Beam Black is cut from $47.95 per bottle to $44.95 each, a savings of $3 over the normal price. That struck me as remarkably strange. I understand that private businesses will occasionally discount products, and I suppose it follows that the ABC board might do the same, but I thought it weird to do that at a state or county level. I also can’t determine if there is rhyme or reason for what is discounted, or in which counties, but that’s something I’ll have to do more research on. There is a nice little report generator that will allow you to see what discounts are in any given month, and that seems to be at the state level. I have a spreadsheet of December 2020 specials attached, for informational purposes.
Beyond monthly discounts, North Carolina prevents happy hour specials at establishments that serve alcohol. However, they allow daily specials such as ladies’ night or BOGO days. As for why one is fine, but not the other, I have no idea. I would expect that state mandated prices with monthly special lists would cover all of the price variation possible, but I guess not. In any case, don’t worry about getting to the bar before 6pm, the price is the same all day long. Might not hurt to make a point to go on Tuesday, though, if your favorite watering hole does BOGO Long Island Iced Tea that day. North Carolina, you are so weird.
I definitely want to start doing some research and see just how the prices compare. At least with the monthly sales in North Carolina, it may behoove me to scope out specific bottles and buy them while they’re on sale. I could certainly check out what’s on sale at the beginning of the month, and make a point to note prices on both sides of the border. If nothing else, this gives me incentive to try new things each month if they’re on sale in North Carolina, and cheaper than anything I can find in South Carolina.
Sources:
https://www.meckabc.com/Products-Monthly-Specials
http://wakeabc.com/monthly-specials/
http://wakeabc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/September-2020.pdf
https://abc.nc.gov/
https://abc.nc.gov/Pricing
https://abc.nc.gov/Pricing/MonthlyReductions/3
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