Ah, thanks for the clarification. I've been through some states that had state run stores, the ABC or whatever. NC comes to mind. I don't recall though if that was for all alcohol including beer or if beer was excluded as it is in Oregon.
Here in MN, grocery stores cannot sell alcohol, and liquor stores can sell any kind of alcohol, spirits, wine and beer. Small breweries can sell growlers, but as soon as you hit a certain size you can't sell any off-sale beer out of your taproom anymore.
Alcohol laws in this country are so backwards and confusing, it's absurd. /facepalm
In NC, the ABC stores are just for liquor. It used to be, some decade ago, that NC limited alcohol content to 5.5% for what NC considered "beer." Anything above that was now "malt liquor," and could only be purchased at the ABC store under "malt liquor."
At that time, wine could be purchased in any grocery store, as well as most shitty beers. Liquor only, and wine and "malt liquor" at the ABC stores, still closed on Sunday and no alcohol sales anywhere after midnight Saturday.
Then, the state Dems took advantage of some Republicans vacationing one weekend (off to diddle their little cabana boys, no doubt), walked into legislature and passed the lottery for the first time, as well as repealed the asinine alcohol laws. Since then, craft breweries have established a serious industry throughout NC, as well as the state now being able to distribute many of the long-exiled brands from breweries with limited shipments, or would refuse to ship anything at all, as those laws excluded a majority of their products.
anyhoo...I have now moved to Maryland, and have discovered something horrific and vile is afoot in this state: It seems that each county in the state limits beer/alcohol sales to one major supplier per county (say, grocery store). So, within each county, there is a single grocery store where one can go to purchase their booze. Everything else is limited to private liquor or beverage stores....and I'm talking very limited. selection and cost is effing insane, and I'm comparing this to costs in the previous 7 years living in CA, and also where the selection was ~98% godawful IPAs.
😡 For the first time in my life, I walked into a dry Costco. The horror! D:
Something must be done about this horseshit. Luckily, VA and the District are nearby, so there may be some avenues here, but I haven't yet had much time to explore.
