Moist county

Map showing dry (red), wet (blue), and moist (yellow) counties in the United States.

In the United States, a moist county is a county in between a "dry county" (where the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited) and a "wet county" (where alcohol is sold). The term is typically used for any county that allows alcohol to be sold in certain situations, but has limitations on alcohol sales that a normal "wet" county would not have. Some historically "dry" counties are switching to this system to avoid losing money to businesses in other counties, but do not wish to become completely "wet." The term in itself does not have any specific meaning, just that the county is not completely "wet" but is not "dry", either. The terms are applicable in states in which each county makes its own rules on alcohol sales. A "dry" county that contains one or more "wet" cities is typically called "moist".

Examples

In Kentucky, the term can be used in two different senses:

• Two different statutes allow any dry territory—which can be a dry county or a city located in a dry county—to vote to authorize limited sales of alcoholic beverages by the drink in restaurants. Both statutes require that restaurants make at least 70% of their money from food (rather than alcohol) sales. One statute requires that the restaurant seat at least 100 patrons. The other, signed into law in June 2007, requires only 50 seats, but prohibits licensed establishments from having a dedicated bar and requires that the drinks be sold in association with a meal. Once a jurisdiction votes for such sales, qualifying restaurants can apply for a permit, which are distributed on a somewhat limited basis. For example, the Louisville suburban jurisdiction of Oldham County voted to allow such sales in the early 2000s (its county seat of La Grange later approved full package sales in 2012).^[1] Note, however, that Kentucky's Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control does not use the term "moist county" to describe a county in which such sales are allowed, calling it instead a "limited" county.^[2]
• Officially, a "moist county" is an otherwise dry county in which a city in the county's jurisdiction has voted to allow full retail sales of alcoholic beverages. The following Kentucky counties^[1][2] fall in this category:

Dry county	Wet city or cities
Barren	Cave City
Boyd[3]	Ashland[4][5]
Boyle	Danville
	Junction City
Caldwell	Princeton[6]
Calloway	Murray[7]
Carter	Grayson
	Olive Hill
Clay	Manchester
Estill	Irvine
Garrard	Lancaster
Hardin	Elizabethtown
	Radcliff
	Vine Grove
Harlan	Cumberland
Henry[8]	Eminence
Hopkins	Dawson Springs
	Earlington
	Madisonville
Jessamine	Nicholasville
Johnson	Paintsville
Knox	Corbin
Letcher	Whitesburg
Lewis	Vanceburg
Logan	Russellville
Madison	Richmond
Montgomery	Mount Sterling
Muhlenberg	Central City
Oldham[9]	La Grange[1]
Pendleton	Falmouth
Pike	Pikeville
Pulaski	Burnside
	Somerset[10]
Rowan	Morehead
Scott	Georgetown[11]
Shelby[12]	Shelbyville
Simpson	Franklin[4]
Todd	Guthrie
Warren	Bowling Green
Washington	Springfield
Whitley	Corbin

Note that once a city votes itself fully wet, state law mandates a 60-day period, starting on the date that the election results are certified, before vendors can apply for licenses to sell distilled spirits and wine. At the end of that period, the state will then advertise in that city's newspaper of record to announce the number of licenses that will be granted. However, beer licenses are not subject to quotas, and can be applied for once the city enacts a governing ordinance.^[13]

References