North Carolina's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission meets at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Raleigh to consider a policy that would set a minimum price for liquor sold statewide, a move regulators say could curb excessive drinking but that bars and restaurants warn will simply push customers across state lines. The proposal would raise prices specifically on lower-cost spirits, and it has already drawn organized opposition from hospitality groups, spirits manufacturers, and everyday drinkers who flooded the commission with public comments this summer.
The commission is weighing the measure as a way to curb excessive drinking, and it has pointed to research showing that a targeted minimum price on high-proof drinks reduced youth alcohol intake by roughly 28%, according to WRAL News. That figure traces back to a 2022 Oxford University Press study that modeled price elasticities among university students to evaluate how minimum unit pricing affects youth off-premise drinking, according to a paper hosted on Ovid. Commissioners say higher floor prices could specifically discourage drinking among youth and young adults.
Bars and restaurants that serve alcohol oppose the plan outright, arguing it would force them to either raise prices further or absorb the extra costs themselves, per the WRAL report. Allen Thomas, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, said increasing the price of alcohol is unnecessary, unwanted, and adds costs for consumers. Thomas also said liquor consumption in North Carolina has declined every year since 2019, arguing the price floor addresses a problem that is already shrinking.
A Lopsided Poll and a Cross-Border Worry
The restaurant and lodging association polled more than 800 registered North Carolina voters over age 21 last month and found the proposal deeply unpopular: 55% opposed it while just 12% supported it. The association described the opposition as broad and bipartisan, and it warned the price hikes could push more people to cross state lines for cheaper liquor, potentially costing North Carolina sales and tax revenue to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The group's math leans on North Carolina's existing tax burden: the state's excise tax on distilled spirits already sits at $18.23 per gallon, compared with $5.42 per gallon in South Carolina, according to the WRAL report. Separately, 2026 Tax Foundation data cited by the Carolina Journal ranks that $18.23-per-gallon rate as the fifth highest in the nation, trailing only Washington, Oregon, Virginia, and Alabama. Under the proposed price increase, the restaurant and lodging association reported that roughly 1 in 3 people would buy liquor across state lines instead.
How North Carolina Already Sets Liquor Prices
North Carolina is one of 17 so-called control states, meaning government entities hold a monopoly over wholesaling or retail price setting for spirituous liquor rather than allowing an open market, according to a report on Public Technologies. Under state law, specifically NC General Statutes § 18B-804, spirituous liquor pricing is already calculated through a uniform statewide formula that layers distiller costs, warehouse bailment fees, local ABC board markups, state excise taxes, and rehabilitation bottle charges, per the state ABC Commission's own pricing breakdown. That formula gives local ABC boards a statutory markup of nearly 40% on top of distiller case costs before a bottle ever reaches a store shelf.
On top of all that, retail liquor purchases in North Carolina carry a 7.00% combined general sales and use tax applied at the point of sale, according to the North Carolina Department of Revenue. Any new price floor would stack atop that existing structure of excise taxes, board markups, and sales tax rather than replace it.
Industry Pushback Goes Beyond the Restaurant Lobby
The restaurant association is not alone in fighting the proposal. Major spirits manufacturer Sazerac joined North Carolina hospitality groups in threatening legal action against the ABC Commission over the floor pricing policy, according to a industry podcast recap. A statewide advocacy campaign called Free Our Spirits NC, funded by Carolina Champions, has also mobilized public comments opposing the pricing floor while pushing for a broader overhaul of the state's liquor laws, and it urged supporters to send messages directly to the ABC board ahead of Wednesday's meeting.
The commission had opened a formal public comment period on the pricing study that ran through July 29, specifically soliciting input on the potential health impacts and marketplace effects of a baseline price, according to Shop Local Raleigh. That pushback also arrives alongside a separate legislative effort: during the 2025 session, lawmakers introduced House Bill 921 to authorize variable happy hour pricing for bars and restaurants, according to law firm Williams Mullen, a move that would loosen pricing rules even as the commission considers tightening them elsewhere.
The Enforcement Backdrop
Underlying the debate is North Carolina's existing enforcement against liquor sold outside the legal system entirely. State law already classifies the unlicensed manufacturing or sale of non-tax-paid spirituous liquor as a criminal offense ranging from misdemeanor to felony charges, and a June traffic stop in Whiteville turned up 18 gallons of untaxed moonshine, an illustration of the kind of illicit market critics worry could grow if legal prices climb further. Police in that case were acting under state authority to seize and destroy non-tax-paid spirits.
Wednesday's meeting in Raleigh will determine whether the commission moves forward with the minimum pricing policy despite the polling numbers, the legal threats, and the organized public campaign against it. For now, the outcome remains an open question the commission itself will have to answer at the 10 a.m. session.
