The Asheville area is chock full of breweries, free to sell draft beers — or bottles and cans to go.

But in North Carolina's growing liquor-making business, distillers face a list of restrictions in how they can sell their products. Those include not being allowed to sell individual liquor drinks at distilleries, limits on how many unopened bottles they can sell per customer and not being allowed to sell bottles directly to retail businesses, such as restaurants.

Bars, meanwhile, don't technically exist in the state, since any establishment wanting to sell liquor drinks must either be a restaurant or a private club.

Now people wanting to make liquor or sell spirituous drinks could face far fewer barriers under a state law proposed in March by some Asheville area legislators.

House Bill 378, the "Distiller Regulatory Reform Bill," has primary sponsors including representatives Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, and Buncombe County Democrats Susan Fisher and Brian Turner.

The Senate version of the bill, SB 290, has support from Democrat Terry Van Duyn, who represents most of Buncombe.

McGrady, who favors liquor privatization efforts, said the changes proposed in some ways would mirror restrictions lifted on N.C. based breweries which allowed them to act as wholesalers and sell directly to retailers.

"I think it’s comparable to what we did with craft brewing," McGrady said March 21, days after House and Senate versions of the bill were filed. "We provided exceptions to them to how they want to distribute. The idea is they would distribute in their own towns or cities."

As for changes with drink sales, an establishment now wanting to sell shots or mixed drinks must have food sales equaling more than 30 percent of combined food and alcohol sales.

Another option is to be private club not open to the public with membership requirements.

HB 378 would allow the sale of liquor without food or private club membership.

Officials with Asheville ABC, the government body that controls almost all local liquor sales to individuals and retailers, say they support the changes.

Even with more than 50 distillers, North Carolina liquor manufacturing makes up a fraction of state sales. Still, those businesses are important to the local economy and culture, said Asheville ABC Operations Manager Jason Thacker.

"We want the North Carolina products to succeed," Thacker said.

That means displaying local products prominently in ABC stores, he said.

Thacker said his one reservation was that the bill, if successful, could encourage more privatization and and less control by local government bodies, a system that he said is good in bringing in money to take pressure of local taxpayers while limiting social harms from drinking.

More:Private liquor sales on table for Asheville, rest of North Carolina, Sen. Edwards says

More:Area legislators to work on marijuana, liquor, redistricting and school funding this year