For the people reading this who don’t live in Tennessee:
For some reason, the laws in Tennessee are set up in such a way that alcohol 5% (or is it 5.5%?) and below can be sold in grocery stores, gas stations, and discount tobacco/beer stores, but anything higher than that is liquor store territory. This generally means that beer is only sold in grocery stores, and wine and spirits are sold in liquor stores. In fact, I’m pretty sure alcohol below 5% can’t be sold in liquor stores.
This leaves out a critical territory: beers above 5% alcohol, which most liquor stores tend to ignore. However, I dug up an article a from a few years ago which mentioned liquor stores spotting this gap, and starting to capitalize on it. Unfortunately I haven’t seen any stores offering such a selection, which is sad, because it seems the grocery store variety has been severly limited to big-named brands, leaving some of the more exotic beers I’d like to sample (Barley wines, doppelbocks, eisbocks, oh my!) to rest in obscurity.
So my question is, does anyone know of a liquor store in the Middle Tennessee area that sells higher-proof beers? Or am I destined to plant myself in home-brew circles and sample every one else’s creations (Not that I’d mind that)?
