Liquor stores in Montgomery County are "controlled", or government run. I'm not sure exactly what that means. There are 18 States that are controlled as opposed to "open," or privatized, and then there's Montgomery County. I can't find out why it's just Montgomery County and not all of Maryland, but that's the way it is. I gues some time between the end of prohibition and now, some folks decided that Montgomery County would be in charge of its own liquor laws.
The Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control owns and operates 25 retail stores. (Baltimore ZIP code 21201 has 58.9 liquor stores per 100,000 residents while Potomac ZIP code 20854 has 6.5 per 100,000 residents.) Needless to say, they're not always convenient. Luckily there's one on Auburn Avenue, not far from the Safeway and easy to roll up into your other errands. MCDLC will even help you get there.
The pros: parking. The cons: everything else. It's just not a pleasant way to buy booze. I like a liquor store that makes you feel like you're doing something festive, not shopping at a Florida dollar store. And oeniphiles, be warned: there is zero reverance for wine here. It's just more mere booze. It's barely organized by region, and <gasp> there was no Beaujolais Nouveau on November 21. The other big disadvantage is that they don't sell anything else. You have to go elsewhere for your mixers, your snacks, your gift packaging, your booze parphernalia and your gum.
But the important thing is you can park your car and get your vodka in less than 10 minutes, and you don't have to drive to Chevy Chase to do it. Open Mon-Sat 10am-9pm.
Auburn Avenue Liquor Store, 4800 Auburn Avenue, Bethesda, 240-773-2006
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