Washington

Local option (no dry counties); state repealed state-control of wholesale, retail sales of spirits in 2012; state issues licenses but liquor distribution and liquor stores privatized; licensed private liquor distributors must pay state 5 percent tax on gross sales; distributors must post for retailers lists of wholesale prices for liquor and cannot change or discount prices; cities may ask state to declare part of a town where drunkenness is common an “alcohol impact area” and restrict retail alcohol sales there; brewery employees may sample beer as it is produced as long as “the licensee or employee does not become apparently intoxicated”; to obtain a license to serve spirits, wine and beer, restaurants must offer service of at least eight complete meals, a complete meal being “an entrée and at least one side dish”; in a nightclub, barriers preventing minors from entering where liquor is served “must be at least forty-two inches high.”