{"id":147,"date":"2026-05-19T21:05:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=147"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:05:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:05:48","slug":"rollback-of-nc-alcohol-laws-passes-committee-vote-but-sunday-abc-sales-do-not-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"Rollback of NC alcohol laws passes committee vote, but Sunday ABC sales do not survive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A bill to bring canned cocktails to grocery store shelves, legalize \u201chappy hour\u201d promotions, and loosen other liquor restrictions advanced in the North Carolina House Tuesday, albeit with a few concessions to conservative opponents.<\/p>\n

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The most overt change to House Bill 921: ABC & Gaming Omnibus Bill, was the elimination of a provision to allow Alcoholic Beverage Control stores to open on Sundays subject to local approval, which faced strong objections from religious conservatives.<\/p>\n

The first state to enact alcohol prohibition in 1908, North Carolina has long held onto blue laws curtailing alcohol sales. In 2021, the state saw the first legal Sunday sale of a bottle of liquor in more than a century \u2014 but it was sold at a distillery, not an ABC store.<\/p>\n

North Carolina remains one of 17 states to operate its own liquor stores, the only retailers in the state permitted to carry liquor.<\/p>\n

But under the new bill, any retailer that stocks beer and wine will be allowed to sell premixed cocktails by the can \u2014 the fastest growing category of alcohol sales in the United States. The previous version of the bill would have allowed canned cocktails up to 13% ABV, but in another compromise, lawmakers lowered that limit to 9.9% ABV.<\/p>\n

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Looser liquor law proposed by NC lawmakers faces moral, fiscal objections<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n