I got seriously addicted to Aperol Spritz’s while in Belgium and wanted to recreate the drink for my friends. All part of the lounge and sip program. We discovered the liquor laws in Maryland made it more difficult to scout out Aperol. Today we head to Virginia so where would we find this lovely elixir? I asked, Claude answered.
You might have already guessed. These liquor laws have to do with prohibition and the way states chose to re-legalize alcohol sales.
Virginia is an “ABC state” (Alcoholic Beverage Control), meaning the state holds a monopoly on distilled spirits sales. Hard liquor can only be purchased at state-owned and operated ABC stores Wine and beer are available at grocery stores, gas stations, Walmart, Target, CVS, and similar retailers.
Lucky us, our first stop on our way to Charlottesville was the small town of Middleburg. Population 700. White, wealthy. This is horse and hunt country. Rolling hills. Old stone walls. Small as it was, there was a well stocked liquor store. There was Aperol. I’ll do another post with pics of the town.
For anyone interested, here is a little more detail (from Claude):
“When Prohibition ended in 1933, states had to decide how to re-legalize alcohol, and many were deeply ambivalent about it. The “control state” model — where the government monopolizes spirits sales — was the compromise that let more conservative and temperance-minded legislators accept repeal. The idea was that the state could limit access, reduce “aggressive” marketing of hard liquor, and capture the profits for the public good rather than letting private retailers profit from it.
The reasoning behind treating spirits differently from beer and wine comes down to a few things:
Alcohol content — The traditional thinking was that distilled spirits (typically 40%+ ABV) posed a greater public health and safety risk than beer or wine, and therefore warranted tighter control. Beer and wine were seen as more “moderate” beverages with cultural and culinary legitimacy.
The temperance legacy — In many states, rural and religious communities that had supported Prohibition retained political influence after repeal. Allowing spirits in grocery stores — making them as easy to grab as milk — was a bridge too far for those constituencies. The ABC store model kept hard liquor in a separate, more deliberate purchasing environment.
Revenue and control — States that adopted the ABC model quickly realized they were making significant money from the markup. Virginia’s ABC system generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the state budget. That creates a powerful institutional incentive to keep the monopoly intact, regardless of the original rationale.
Inertia — Once the infrastructure and bureaucracy are established, they’re very hard to dismantle. Grocery chains, convenience stores, and consumer advocates have pushed for liberalization in many control states over the decades, but they run up against the ABC employees’ unions, state revenue interests, and lingering social conservatism.
Virginia has actually loosened things considerably over time — Sunday sales, expanded hours, cocktails to go — but full grocery store spirits sales would essentially mean dismantling the ABC system, which is a heavy political lift.”