In 2012 what explains "Wet, Dry and Moist America"?

[kenny]

200 American counties are still under 1919 prohibition.
It never ceases to amaze me how much people vary.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17291978

Partial snip:

National prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, but it never quite died out.

When alcohol regulation was handed back to individual states, many local communities voted to keep the restrictions in place, particularly in the southern Bible Belt.

Today there are still more than 200 "dry" counties in the United States, and many more where cities and towns within dry areas have voted to allow alcohol sales, making them "moist" or partially dry.

The result is a patchwork of dry, wet and moist.

 

[Imdanny]

Interesting map!

Do we know what their definition of strict controls is?

 

[kenny]

Interesting map!

Do we know what their definition of strict controls is?

I'd guess restrictions on where and when it can be sold, like not on Sundays or late at night or at grocery stores, within X feet of a school/church.

 

[kefira]

From the article, regarding what is "moist":

Wet/dry map explained: Counties are classified as "partially dry" where wet communities exist within dry counties, or where dry communities exist within wet counties. The exact definition of wet and dry differs between states. Alaska, unlike most other states, does not have counties but over 100 Alaskan communities have alcohol restrictions. Hawaii has no dry counties.

 

[monarch64]

You can't buy alcohol in Indiana on Sundays. So how is it a "wet" state?

 

[Gothgrrl]

I have noticed that most beer/wine aren't refrigerated. And several liquer stores didn't sell any bottled water. Strange liquer laws around here.

Interesting info Kenny.

 

[ksinger]

Well, here's a bit of a blast from the past from Oklahoma. I wasn't drinking at this time, although as female I could buy and drink beer at 18 and males could not. That law was repealed in Nov of '83 a month before I turned 21: NO ONE under 21 allowed in bars, so all the bars that could swing it had been repositioning themselves as "restaurants", with a defined percentage of their revenues coming from food sales. Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, OK, was one bar who did that extremely well, and still going strong today. Miss the old beer bar vibe though...

Anyway, now the trivia...

Oklahoma became a state in 1907---a dry state. Native son Will Rogers once commented that Oklahomans would vote dry as long as they could stagger to the polls; bootlegging was always a lucrative business in the state.

Beer became legal in 1933, but only beer under 3.2% in alcohol content. The Oklahoma legislature deemed this a "non-intoxicating beverage". (The Oklahoma judiciary was asked to dissent from this view at least once; see sidebar, from 2/6/1979: "Man says beer pickled brain, sues brewery").

In the late fifties, a determined effort was made to enforce Prohibition to the letter of the law. As Rogers had prophesied, since they were now unable to stagger, they instead marched upright into the voting booth and repealed the law in 1959.


** Description of a Fake ID. (I didn't include the picture) ** The '51' was typed onto yellow paper, cut out, and stuck on with toothpaste. That way, it could be peeled off in an emergency. An ID-checker once squinted at it through its translucent cover and said "Good enough." It served as an entrée into such educational establishments as "The Organ Grinder" (later renamed "Walter Mitty's") in Norman, OK. As you can see, the toothpaste is still working today. Maybe it's the fluoride.

Even afterwards, Oklahoma's liquor statutes remained quaint. To order mixed drinks, you had to be a card-carrying member of a "private club", where, according to the new law, you would bring your own bottle, have it labeled, and be served from it by the bartender (and charged for the set-ups).

In practice, however, the criteria for joining a "private" club often consisted of: (a) your presence at the bar, (b) a driver's license not too obviously faked, and (c) a pulse. Once passing these stringent requirements, you were issued a membership card and could then buy any drink you wanted. The wallets of urban Oklahomans were often stuffed with these cards.

At some clubs, you actually did need to bring a bottle. The bartender would label it with your name and place it in view behind the bar, to ostensibly comply with the law. You still had carte blanche on your drink selection.

This practice was called "liquor-by-the-drink", or more popularly, "liquor-by-the-wink".

Liquor-by-the-wink came to an end in a popular vote on
April 30, 1985 by a 3-1 margin.

ETA - And enforcement, at least between 83 and 85 in Stillwater, was non-existent. My friends took me out on my 21st, and got me quite drunk on mixed drinks and no one even knew that they technically weren't supposed to be doing that. And other places had serious happy hours - like 3-for-1 drinks between 3-6. Again, no enforcement...

 

[Imdanny]

From the article, regarding what is "moist":

Wet/dry map explained: Counties are classified as "partially dry" where wet communities exist within dry counties, or where dry communities exist within wet counties. The exact definition of wet and dry differs between states. Alaska, unlike most other states, does not have counties but over 100 Alaskan communities have alcohol restrictions. Hawaii has no dry counties.

Hawaii only has 5 counties. And no we don't get hung up about alcohol.

 

[partgypsy]

We've run into the dry liquor laws a couple times. Visiting the Asheboro zoo in Asheboro, NC it is a "dry" county. You cannot buy beer, wine, liquor in stores anywhere in the county. Strangely enough we went to a restaurant we could buy a beer (I don't know if the restaurant was in another county or restaurants are an exception).
Also traveling to the Smokies, the some areas are dry, where primarily means cannot buy hard liquor.

I live in NC. I think for the state while you can purchase wine and beer in stores, no hard liquor sold in grocery, convenience, etc stores. You have to go to a state run ABC store to purchase the stuff. I believe they still have the rule for bar/restaurants you had to have more food sales than liquor sales to sell the liquor. If you didn't you either had your license revoked, or had to be a "club" where you purchased a membership, have a card for it. Many areas have strict limits for number of liquor liscenses so businesses are not guaranteed to get them.

I'm from Chicago, where everything goes, and there seemed to be a bar on every corner so everyone can have their neighborhood bar.