Growing up in Massachusetts, the only place you could buy alcohol was at a liquor store – “packie” in the local parlance. When I headed to university and saw that gas stations sold beer, I thought that was a bad idea. Then I moved to North Carolina and saw a “brew-thru” – which is exactly what you think it is, a drive-thru packie.

Every time I see a bottle in a brown paper bag, I think about the packie in my home town and the folks who would stream in and out on payday.