A Bethesda chef says he has plenty of opinions on the subject, but he won’t commit any of them to print under his name. The last time one of his employees spoke out on the topic, he found his restaurant the target of an underage drinking sting. A Silver Spring restaurateur can relate; she’s wary about speaking out on the subject, too, lest she make “any enemies with the people that we get our supply from.” ....

What is the source of all their fears? The Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control (DLC), which distributes every drop of alcohol consumed in the county. Montgomery is the only jurisdiction in the United States that controls the distribution of the big three—beer, wine, and liquor—and it’s been handling this puritanical duty since late 1933, when the county decided the best way to limit the supply of fire water to its residents was to put the government in charge. If the county served more as a dam back in the post-Prohibition era, stemming the flow of alcohol within its borders, the DLC acts more as an irrigation system these days. In fiscal 2006 alone, the DLC sold more than $191 million in beer, wine, and liquor to the 900-plus licensees in the county. ....

Governments, of course, have always regulated products and industries that officials deem dangerous to the public’s health, safety, or morals. There are age restrictions on smoking and outright embargoes on puffing those cancer sticks in public places, including bans in the District and Montgomery County. There are waiting periods and background checks on the purchase of guns. Now there’s even a ban on trans fats in New York City.

But if governments tend to legislate lifestyle choices, which in turn affects businesses, the DLC goes one step further: It has wedged itself between alcohol wholesalers and retailers who, frankly, would prefer to serve their markets without the presence of a slow-footed government bureaucracy. They have no delusions, however, that the county will sacrifice its multimillion-dollar revenue stream to get out of the alcohol business, so all sides have learned how to live with one another. In fact, businesses readily give the county credit for doing a decent job in many areas, except one: the sale and distribution of special-order wines. ....

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