Moist county

In the United States, a moist county is a county on the "middle ground" 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 as a generalization for a county that allows alcohol to be sold in certain situations, but has limitations on alcohol sales that a normal wet county wouldn't 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 doesn't have any specific meaning, just that the county isn't completely wet but isn't dry. Each county makes up 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 has recently voted to allow such sales. 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.^[1]

Officially, a "moist county" is an otherwise dry county in which a city has voted to allow full retail sales of alcoholic beverages. The following Kentucky counties^[1] fall in this category:

Dry county	Wet city or cities
Boyd^[2]	Ashland
Boyle	Danville
Boyle	Junction City
Clay	Manchester
Garrard	Lancaster
Hardin	Elizabethtown
	Radcliff
	Vine Grove
Harlan	Cumberland
Henry	Eminence
Hopkins	Dawson Springs
	Earlington
	Madisonville
Jessamine	Nicholasville
Johnson	Paintsville
Lewis	Vanceburg
Logan	Russellville
Madison	Richmond
Muhlenberg	Central City
Montgomery	Mount Sterling
Pendleton	Falmouth
Pike	Pikeville
Rowan	Morehead
Shelby^[3]	Shelbyville
Todd	Guthrie
Warren	Bowling Green
Washington	Springfield

Notes and references

^ ^a ^b "Wet & Dry Counties in Kentucky as of 10/11/11" (PDF). Kentucky Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control. http://abc.ky.gov/Licensing%20Resources/Wet%20Dry%20List.pdf. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
^ This county is also a "limited" county which has voted to allow qualifying restaurants outside of the city of Ashland to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink.
^ This county is also a "limited" county which has voted to allow qualifying restaurants outside of the city of Shelbyville to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink.