Beer and wine sales in Robbinsville expected; just not as soon as you thought

Robbinsville — Starting tomorrow, for the first time since the 1940s, it will be legal to buy beer and wine in Robbinsville. 

The local Ingles, the only supermarket in the county, geared up for it:

Staff trained? Check

Greeting cards section moved? Check

Coolers installed? Check

Distributors lined up? Check

Beer and wine license? Not yet.

Although November ballot measures for beer and wine sales passed almost two months before tomorrow’s effective date, Robbinsville the Board of Aldermen still has work to do for sales to launch.

“We’re still working on satisfying state requirements,” said Robbinsville Mayor Shaun Adams.

The board started the process at its November meeting, when it set a $50 fee for one-time special event permits.

On Wednesday, at its first meeting of the new year, the board is expected to designate a city official who will review and sign the permit applications. 

That official will work with businesses to complete the application and forward it to the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission in Raleigh. 

“They will handle it from there,” Adams said.

Graham County, which is considered “moist,” does not have its own ABC commission.

Ingles executives are expecting the process to be complete around mid-January. Adams said Ingles is the only business he is aware of that will be applying for permits to sell beer and wine. Convenience stores, restaurants, and lodging venues inside city limits are other existing businesses that could sell beer and wine. Similar venues just outside town limits could ask to be annexed into the town to qualify for beer and wine sales.

Later, bars that focus on high-end beer, ales, and wine could also spring up, and maybe even microbreweries.

Meanwhile, if you want to buy beer or wine in Graham County, the Town of Fontana Dam allows it, as does Blue Waters Mountain Lodge, Tapoco Lodge, and Snowbird Mountain Lodge; each of which qualify under an exemption for resorts.

Closer to Robbinsville, Wehrloom Honey sells its own varieties of mead (fermented honey in bottles and cans) and has a tap room where adults can buy mead by the glass.