August 6, 2002
<bt>In Virginia, like everywhere else in the U.S., you must be 21 years old to buy alcohol, although minors are allowed in bars and restaurants that serve liquor. But state law also restricts what businesses in the state can sell it to you.
State laws restricting alcohol sales date to 1933, when the US Congress passed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, ending Prohibition. The state Alcoholic Beverage Commission was established the following year, instituting limits on when and where alcoholic beverages could be sold in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Restaurants and bars can get several kinds of licenses, to let them sell only liquor and beer, or to allow them to sell mixed drinks. Bars can offer happy hour discounts, but only until 9 p.m. Even then, customers can only buy two mixed drinks, two beers or two glasses of wine at a time during happy hour. During other times, there is no limit on the amount of beer or wine that customers can buy at a time.
Grocery stores and convenience stores in Virginia may be licensed to sell beer or wine until midnight, and many do. But the only places that sell liquor by the bottle are licensed ABC stores. Liquor sales are allowed Monday-Saturday.
Across the Potomac in the District, liquor laws are more lenient, and some grocery stores in the District do carry liquor by the bottle, along with beer and wine, but liquor sales in D.C. end earlier than beer and wine sales in Virginia grocery stores.
<ro>There are five ABC stores in Arlington:
<lst>Arlandria Store
Shirley Park Shopping Center
2955A S. Glebe Road
703-518-2412
10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday
State Liquor Store
1039 N. Highland St.
703-875-0125
10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday
Commonwealth of Virginia Liquor Store
4709-B Lee Highway
703-875-0129
10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday
State Liquor Store
2201 N. Pershing Drive
703-875-0127
8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday
Rosslyn
Colonial Village Shopping Center
1731 Wilson Blvd.
703-875-0119
10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday
<bt>More information on Virginia liquor laws is available online from www.abc.state.va.us.