I dont drink very often really, but I'll add to the discourse.... Here in NC you can buy beer and wine from most grocery stores, gas stations, and random lemonade stands that happened to be licesenced for such things, but in order to get anything harder then a fairly potent Ale or beer, one has to go to the "ABC" store, or Alcoholic Beverage Control store.... because tahts what our state decided to do after prohibition ended, and its stayed that way since... now its turned into cute little county controlled booze fiefdoms run by morons who try and "make money for the county/town/city/township/ETC" while also wasting tax money SELLING BOOZE TO THE POPULOUS THEY TAX. Its quite possibly the dumbest thing about the whole deal.
It IS however HILARIOUS when people from out of state wonder why the gas station wont sell them aristocrate and the like, and then have to go to a state/local goverment run booze store.