21 for non-alcoholic beer?

I was picking up a few things at the local Weis last night on the way home and as I snagged two of the last remaining bottles of Kosher Coke (2 liters with the yellow cap found around Passover - it has real cane sugar in it instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup), I noticed a sign over by the non-alcoholic beer. I had to take a picture of it and here is that picture.

I’m no stranger to screwed up liquor or alcohol laws since I’ve lived most of my life in South Carolina, until recently the home of the mini-bottle for all drinks prepared in bars and restaurants. It’s also the state where in the late 1800s, Ben Tillman set up a state monopoly on liquor production and distribution with the establishment of a Dispensary. South Carolina is still in the process of various growing counties and municipalities trying to shake off the blue laws forbidding Sunday sales.

Needless to say, Maryland’s laws seem just as screwed up as those of my home state if not more in some cases. Montgomery County has their monopoly on distribution that includes a big county warehouse that restaurants must order through and county owned liquor stores. The biggest thing that caught my eye when I was visiting Maryland (and it caught my wife’s eye visiting South Carolina) before I moved here is the difference in beer and wine sales. Maryland was the first state that I’d ever been in that didn’t allow beer and wine sales in supermarkets, grocery stores, or convenience stores. Going to the liquor store to get beer and wine is still odd to me. Sure, there were liquor stores co-located with “party shops” in South Carolina (local places or places like Green’s) but they had separate entrances and the liquor side closed at 7 p.m.

Granted, most supermarkets have a nearby liquor store in this area, often only a door or two away from the supermarket, but it’s still weird to me to not be able to mix and match and make my own six-pack at places like Whole Foods. If I wanted to purchase some of Trader Joe’s signature wines I’d have to go down to D.C. or Virginia to purchase those. When I can actually find somewhere like World Market up here, they don’t sell wine or beer. As a beer snob/hophead, I’m wondering how much difficult it has made it to find some of the more obscure beers. I’m not even sure if Maryland allows the sales of high-gravity beers (Georgia recently allowed it and there’s a move for it in South Carolina) and the legislature still hasn’t passed a measure to allow mail order (or internet) wine sales.

This all draws me to the picture above that I took last night. I’d never seen this sign in this particular Weis before (it may have been there before but I don’t know.) I’m wondering, was it placed there by Weis policy, Baltimore County law, or Maryland state law?

Anyone with any idea on what the deal is, leave a comment below or drop me a note at mail@insidecharmcity.com.