Hmmm. Maybe we should be a bottle of Maker's Mark this weekend...

The Washington state Liquor Control Board will hold a live auction May 24 in Seattle for the rights to 18 state stores after the top bidders in an online auction failed to pay their posted bids.

Washington is in the process of privatizing its liquor sales after voters approved an initiative kicking the state out of the liquor business.

The state-run liquor system was formed in the 1930s in the aftermath of Prohibition. Voters approved I-1183 last fall allowing stores larger than 10,000 square feet to sell liquor, though smaller stores could sell liquor if there are no other outlets within a certain area.

The exception is the state's contract and state-run stores.

Bidders already have paid out $25.9 million for the rights to 149 state stores that were auctioned last month. A bid deposit of $10,000 will be required for the remaining 18 stores, the agency announced Wednesday. Those stores are located in Seattle, Tacoma, Marysville, Enumclaw, Spokane, Kent, Bellevue, Kenmore, Lakewood, Bellingham, Ocean Shores, Kennewick, Vancouver and North Bend.

More information about the auction is available at http://liq.wa.gov.

Meanwhile, the Washington Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday over the constitutionality of the measure. At issue is whether the initiative violates state rules requiring measures to address only one subject, because it includes a provision to set aside $10 million for public safety.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will be making repairs to the rock seawalls and track embankments from Seattle’s Carkeek Park to Everett. Their base of operations will be near Port of Edmonds at the rail house on West Dayton Street.

Great. Right next to our favorite brewery...

Max Schulze pours cocktails like the LZ-129 Frosted Cocktail (gin and orange juice) and the Maybach 12 (gin, kirsch and Benedictine) in the bar between the smoking room and the airlock on the German airship Hindenburg. Because of the highly flammable hydrogen on board, no one could leave the smoking room with a burning cigarette, cigar or pipe, and Schulze's duties included monitoring the airlock door.

If the bottle under consideration is from Italy, another label note may catch your eye — the certification. Usually written both on the bottle and a paper stick surrounding the cork, the terms DOCG, DOC, and IGT are bestowed upon Italian wines based on what regulations and specifications the vintners followed when creating them.