Seems to me that the fact that the laws do appear to be very much up to the individual counties, indicates a great deal of freedom.
That’s a funny concept of freedom. Luckily the tyranny of the local majority is easier to escape than the tyranny of the national majority.
It’s a matter of public vote, county by county, as to whether mixed drink sales will be permitted. It’s also a matter of public vote on a municipal level, whether an ABC store will be allowed there, and what sort of drinking establishments as well as permitted hours of operation.
Maybe I’m biased, but I tended bar in a dry county, and everyone involved managed to enjoy themselves. The private bar was in a very old hunting lodge-cum-resort. There were liquor lockers for individual safekeeping. Patrons had their own personal cases for locked storage as well as a touch of style, with sometimes very fine ones, leather, monogrammed.
It was another world, and not necessarily a bad one.