In a stunning electoral turn, Houston County, Alabama, voters just approved a referendum to legalize the sale of draft beer for the first time in the County’s history. So instead of being actually drafted, a far more pleasant opportunity awaits—locals will soon be heading to their locals for a fresh pint of frosty draft beer.

Many devout residents of this Bible Belt community surely feel that the path to perdition is not a road paved with good intentions, but rather an ice-cold river of draft beer.

So why the change?

His Honor Pat Thomas, mayor of Dothan, Houston County’s largest city, provided the impetus. “We want a minor league baseball team here in Dothan, and knew we couldn’t get one without being able to sell draft beer at the games,” he said.

Ahh, baseball, the great consensus-building pastime. Baseball and draft beer go together like…well, Alabama and Blue Laws. In fact, although the referendum passed by a 53% to 47% margin, restrictions on alcohol sales are generally strongly supported here.

A former Floridian with whom I spoke commented, “I’m from Miami where this sort of thing is no big deal. Here, I can’t even buy a beer at a supermarket on Sunday. What do you do if you run out of beer during the Super Bowl?”

I asked Mayor Thomas that question. “The Georgia border’s only miles 14 down the Interstate,” he replied, and that’s as good an excuse for a Sunday drive as I’ve heard.

So a toast to Houston County…may your landfills be smaller, your roadsides less littered (especially the ones on the way to Georgia), and your watering holes even happier places!