Since the end of prohibition, businesses have required liquor licenses to sell alcohol. In addition to bars needing a permission to pull a tap, other businesses need a license to grow grains and hops, distill and ferment before the liquor is bottled.

There are 18 types of liquor licenses, ranging from a "farmer-brewer" who grows grains or hops with the intention of producing malt beverages, to a tavern license, to a "ship chandler" that allows a business to supply to ships.

In total, there are 78 sections to chapter 138, the laws regarding alcohol.

Businesses that serve alcohol can have a spectrum of choices. Some allow for just pouring beer and wine, other rules allow customers to bring beer and wine into the restaurant. An all-pour license, the most desired by businesses, allows patrons to order beer, wine or spirits. A license can last for a varying length of time. For a special event, businesses can obtain a short-term permit, others can seek a seasonal one, or a year-round license.

To obtain any of such licenses is a long, at times tedious process that some state politicians have sought to change.

Before leaving office last year, then-Governor Deval Patrick sought to lift a cap on liquor licenses based on population. When the state senate approved a bill lifting the cap, this allowed the number of liquor licenses per community to be decided by local governing bodies, instead of by a population quota system.

Some Western Massachusetts communities have benefitted from this rule. The state granted Holyoke 13 additional liquor licenses in September. City officials say this will spur redevelopment in downtown neighborhoods, where the businesses granted the licenses must set up shop.

Five months later, Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse said in his state of the city that several restaurateurs have expressed interest in the licenses.

The city is charging $10,000 for each non-transferable license, meaning if a restaurant were to close, the license ownership would revert to the city.

While those licenses are going for $10,000 in Holyoke, transferable liquor licenses in the state have sold for as much as $450,000 on the secondary market in Boston.

Northampton recently saw a bidding war. After the city's License Commission seized a seasonal, all-pour license from Eric Suher, owner of Iron Horse Entertainment Group, seven business owners competed for the license. This license was made available for $10,000, much cheaper than other Northampton businesses have paid in recent years.

JJ's Tavern in Florence paid Silk City Tap Room $200,000 for its all-pour license recently. When McLadden's Irish Publick House purchased Spoleto's license, it was for $150,000.

Regardless of the price paid, liquor licenses are often a necessary expense for restaurants to be able to make a profit.