The rest of the country gave up on Prohibition in 1933. Parts of Tennessee are still thinking it over.
Two Tennessee counties and five cities and towns have alcohol questions on the November 3 ballot. Voters will decide whether to allow liquor stores, mixed drinks, or wine on grocery store shelves. Several could bring a town its first liquor store. Most of them have drawn little attention outside the local paper. That is a quiet way to settle a question Tennessee has been answering one town at a time since 1939.
Maybe you run a restaurant, own a grocery store, or have spent years waiting for your town to allow a liquor store. This is what is on the ballot, what a yes vote would open up, and why the businesses that start preparing now may be the first ones pouring.
Why parts of Tennessee are still dry
Tennessee went dry early. The state passed its prohibition laws in 1909, about a decade before the rest of the nation followed. Tennessee did not simply flip back on when national Prohibition ended. The state began letting each city and county decide for itself in 1939.
That is still how it works today. A Tennessee city or county does not get package stores or liquor by the drink until its voters approve them in a referendum (Tennessee Code Annotated Sections 57-3-106 and 57-4-103). A referendum is a question put directly to voters on the ballot. Places that never held that vote, or held it and said no, stay dry for liquor and wine, apart from a few exceptions in state law.
“Dry” in Tennessee usually comes with an asterisk. Beer runs on a separate track. A city or county beer board issues beer permits under its own rules, so plenty of places that are dry for liquor and wine already sell beer. We covered how much power those local beer boards have in our post on the Franklin beer permit hearings.
The asterisks can get creative, too. Moore County, home of Jack Daniel’s, has long been one of the best-known dry counties in the state. Visitors can still leave with a bottle, because a special exception lets the distillery sell commemorative bottles on site.
To see where every county stands today, check our county-by-county guide to dry counties in Tennessee.
Where Tennessee votes on alcohol November 3
We checked the November sample ballots posted by county election commissions across the state. There is no statewide alcohol question this year. These are the local ones:
- Meigs County, countywide: liquor by the drink and package stores. Meigs has been dry for a long time. A citizen petition put both questions on the ballot, and county officials have talked about alcohol sales as a new source of tax revenue, according to NewsChannel 9.
- Humphreys County, countywide: liquor by the drink.
- Lenoir City, in Loudon County: package stores. Lenoir City already allows mixed drinks and wine in grocery stores. Liquor stores are the missing piece. Voters turned down the same question in 2008 by about 90 votes, on the same ballot where Loudon County approved liquor stores countywide. This year a citizen petition was 34 signatures short in mid-August and still made the deadline, according to WVLT.
- Brighton, in Tipton County: package stores and liquor by the drink.
- Harrogate, in Claiborne County: liquor by the drink.
- St. Joseph, in Lawrence County: package stores.
- Gainesboro, in Jackson County: wine in grocery stores.
A few counties had not posted their ballots online when we checked, so this list could still grow. Your county election commission has the official sample ballot for your address.
What each vote opens up
Each question unlocks a different kind of business. A yes vote is the starting line. The licenses still have to be earned.
Liquor by the drink
This vote decides whether businesses can serve liquor and wine for people to drink on site. If it passes, a restaurant or other on-premise business can apply to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for a liquor-by-the-drink license. The TABC is the state agency that licenses and polices liquor and wine sales.
The license is only part of it. Staff who serve alcohol need a TABC server permit, and new servers have a short window after they are hired to get one (Section 57-3-707). Cities can also charge an annual privilege tax on businesses that serve drinks. That is a yearly local tax for the right to sell them (Section 57-4-301).
Package stores
A package store is a liquor store. It sells sealed bottles of liquor and wine to take home.
A yes vote does not mean anyone can open one. Before the TABC will consider a retail package store license, the applicant needs a certificate from the local government (Section 57-3-208). The certificate confirms the applicant has no felony conviction in the past 10 years. It also confirms the site meets local requirements and fits within any local limit on the number of stores. Cities and counties can control how many package stores they allow and where those stores go.
That last part is the one to watch. If a town decides it only wants two liquor stores, the applicants who are ready when the town starts taking applications have a real advantage.
Wine in grocery stores
The Gainesboro vote is about wine on grocery shelves. A city can only hold this vote if it already allows package stores or liquor by the drink.
If it passes, a grocery store can apply to the TABC for a retail food store wine license (Sections 57-3-801 through 57-3-820). The store has to qualify as a retail food store under state law, which rules out most convenience stores and gas stations. It also needs at least one employee with a TABC manager’s permit. The city cannot cap the number of grocery wine licenses the way it can with package stores.
What happens between the vote and the first sale
No new liquor store opens and no new bar starts pouring on November 4. Election results have to be certified first, and that takes time.
After certification, the local government may pass new ordinances. These can cover where alcohol businesses can locate, how far they must sit from schools or churches, and how many package stores the town will allow. Applicants then need local sign-off, a completed TABC application, background checks, and an inspection before they can open.
How long all of that takes depends on the town, the license, and how ready the applicant is. The businesses that wait until after the vote to start gathering paperwork usually find out how many steps there are the slow way.
How to get ready before the votes are counted
We do not take a side on how anyone should vote. If you are a business owner in one of these communities and want to be ready either way, here is where to start:
- Check your location. Zoning, distance rules, and local requirements can disqualify a site that works fine for a restaurant or grocery store today.
- Know which license fits. A restaurant, a liquor store, and a grocery store each need a different license, and each comes with its own rules. Our guide to the types of liquor licenses in Tennessee walks through the options.
- Pull your ownership paperwork together. Every owner and officer will be part of the application and the background checks.
- Budget for it. License fees, local taxes, training, and build-out costs add up. Our breakdown of what a liquor license costs in Tennessee covers the state side.
- Watch your local government. The ordinances passed in the weeks after a yes vote may decide how many licenses exist and who gets them.
- Plan for the people. Adding alcohol changes hiring, training, policies, and insurance. Those pieces take longer to set up than most new license holders expect.
Our step-by-step guide on how to get a liquor license in Tennessee covers the full application process.
Where BevLaw Group fits
When a town goes wet, a lot of businesses apply for the same handful of licenses at the same time. BevLaw Group helps hospitality businesses pick the right license and get the application in order, and we stay on after the doors open. Our flat monthly fee covers contracts, leases, employment questions, and help if a regulator ever comes calling. If your town is voting on November 3 and you want to be ready, book a free call with our team.