NC Grocers to Sell Premixed Cocktails Under Bill OK'd by NC House

North Carolina grocery stores wpuld be able to sell premixed cocktails such as Cutwaters, High Noon, Surfside and canned vodka sodas under a bill approved by the North Carolina House of Representatives.

As long as the drinks contain no ,more than 9.9% alcohol by volume, they could be sold the same way beer and wine are sold, rather than being restricted to state-run ABC stores.

“If you took Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods, that’s just three grocery store chains. That alone represents about 1,500 locations versus our 450 [ABC stores],”Rep. Bryan Cohn told The Daily Tar Heel

Concerns have been raised by local ABC boards about how the law could impact revenue coming from ABC stores in the state.

A change to on-premise regulations permit price changes for happy hour, and another change would permit a person to have to two cocktails at one time. Under current low, a person at a wedding, for instance, can order two beers or two wines or a whiskey and a beer at the same time, but cannot order two whiskies or a whiskey and a vodka at the same times.

Another change would permit on-premise operators to order liquor from other ABC stores if their supply runs out.