Alcohol, my permanent accessory...

So, something I didn't think to consider when deciding whether or not to move to New Hampshire is the liquor law up here. It's bizarre.

If you want to buy beer or wine,  you can do so in a grocery store. That's a bit of a luxury, because in Maryland, you can't ever buy alcohol in a grocery store. I grew up with my parents always going next door to the liquor store for anything alcoholic.

If you want to buy wine and hard liquor, you can do so in the New Hampshire state-run Liquor "Outlets."

If you want to buy beer, wine, AND hard liquor all in one place, well, for that you have to go to Massachusetts.

I'm serious. Your other options are to order a drink at a bar or restaurant, or visit a winery's tasting room. I was all excited about that last option until I discovered that New Hampshire soil grows even worse grapes than Maryland. The local wines are ... not good.

What I really miss, though, are the boutique wine shops. The ones where they stock lots of low production wines from independent vineyards, and the staff all knows the inventory and can make informed and interesting recommendations. They tend to have a lot of fun mixed cases available for a bargain. They host free or cheap wine tastings, and often educational classes, too.

Man, I miss those shops.

Today, I went to not one, not two, but three different "outlets" to find wines by a particular label. One of the outlets has the meritage. Another has the cab. Yet another, in a town I have never heard of, has the riesling. Seriously?

And then, there is the fact that most of the wines stocked in the outlets are of the mass produced variety, which, while not necessarily a bad thing, doesn't leave much room for learning and trying new things.

You can bet I will investigate the local wine culture the next time I move to a new state.

This is the scene at the local grocery store chain that lets you pick your own six-pack. This is very cool,  except the beer won't ring up until you buy six. There were two different beers I wanted to try today, but could I just try those two, without buying four more I didn't want? Nope. Because nothing about buying alcohol in New Hampshire makes any sense at all.