Alcohol, Bars and Pull Tabs

Here in Minnesota, there are no “all in one” stores. There are tobacco stores, alcohol stores and grocery stores. I’ve seen an alcohol store right next to a gas station type store, or some tobacco products at the grocery store. The small gas station where I can buy cigarettes, beer, rum, doritos, a fishing license and bread are a thing of my past.

Grocery stores and gas stations don’t sell alcohol above 3.2 ABV, (light beer). You can’t buy alcohol before 9 am (11 on Sunday) or after 9 pm (6 on Sunday). This is not posted, it’s just “known”. I found out doing my Sunday morning grocery shopping, when the clerk pulled back the Bud Light, politely saying, “It (the register), won’t let me sell this”. Municipalities have their own alcohol stores, staffed with city employees. Cigarettes are not widely available everywhere you go, either, but segregated to their own area or store. I don’t see many children in the alcohol store, either, not sure if they’re not allowed or why that is.

Bars are not the same here, either. I haven’t run across any real dive bars, or bars where no kids are allowed. Bars here are a part of resturants, like Olive Garden or Red Robin. No windows blacked out, open 6 am-2 am places, reeking of smoke, where no children are allowed, ever. Here in the bible belt, drinking is a family thing.

Most bars here also advertise pull tabs that benefit some school or organization. I thought pull tabs were the little things on the top of aluminum cans that allow me to get the can open. Nope, wrong again. I asked the waitress, telling her I could start saving mine and bringing them in. You’d think I’d be used to the confused looks by now, but I just keep going with the “nobody knows me here” mentality and ask the stupid questions. Turns out, pull tabs are a form of gambling, another lesson learned for Mrs Gunsmith.