Pennsylvania Liquor Laws

My wife and I went up to Philadelphia to run in the Broad Street Run last weekend. Apparently, Eagles fans are all from out of town because everyone we met was really nice. But I digress, and no, I didn't win but I did place a respectable 7726. Actually the big surprise was my inability to buy beer at a reasonable price. Here in Raleigh, I can buy a six-pack of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale or Stone IPA for $11 at the grocery store. In PA, my choice was buy take-out from a restaurant at restaurant prices or a beverage store, which did have a great selection, but at restaurant prices. I bought two 12oz Arrogant Bastards and two 12oz Stone IPA(not the Ruination) for a total of $20. That's just four beers for just under the retail price of two six-packs anywhere else.

Two questions:
How do you folks in PA put up with this policy that has you paying 200% of retail for your barley(or hop) therapy, and;

How are the liquor laws in other states? Are there any unusual rules in your area?

I'll go first. NC has dry counties, mostly in the western part of the state. The rest, though, beer and wine is available at grocery stores, wine/beer stores and convenience stores. The hard stuff can only be purchased from state-run ABC(Alcoholic Beverage Control) stores. How is it in your neck of the woods?

Its always been that way in Pa. I was born and raised there. when I moved south I was shocked to see beer and wine sold in Grocery stores. Pennyslvania is a Commonwealth if that gives you a clue.

Here in Michigan, you can get package beer, wine, and liquor darned near anywhere. Liquor stores (party stores, here), grocery stores, and gas-station mini-marts all carry full lines of booze at comparable prices to each other. There used to be a no-alcohol-until-noon-on-Sunday restriction, but I don't know if that even exists any more. No dry counties or townships here that I know of. I'm just guessing at this, but I think the liberal liquor laws here may hark back to the fact that Michigan was the primary source of illegally imported Canadian hooch during Prohibition

When I lived in Minnesota, the groceries could sell only 3% beer . If you wanted real beer or wine or liquor, you had to go to the State Store.

NY is really weird. Beer in grocery and convenience stores, but wine is in private owned liquor stores. In fact if you have a liquor/wine store and you own a beer store next door, law requires that you must not have any inside doors connecting them, even as an owner you have to walk outside to enter the other space.

They are trying to get wine sold in grocery stores, the producers like the change, but the liquor store owners , obviously oppose.

At a national in PA back in the 90's we stopped at a pizzera. The table next to us was enjoying wine, beer, hard liquor, you name it. We ordered a couple of beers and the waitress said they didn't serve drinks. You had to bring you own in. Weird.

Hah! Here in Nevada, liquor stores, drug stores, markets all compete. 6 packs of microbrew $6.99 heading into $7.99 lately. If the store is 24/7, then so are liquor/beer/wine sales.

Washington State...

Beer/wine is in grocery stores...
The State runs sales of Hard Liquor.

Therefore the agency that provides it will also bust you for it's "use".

After leaving NY I felt this is kinda weird.

http://liq.wa.gov/

One nice thing about California... Between the hours of 6AM & 2AM, you can buy beer, wine & liquor at many types of stores, all over... Just depends on what the proprietor signed up for with their license.

Here in NJ you can only buy alcoholic beverages in liquor stores and restaurants. If a restaurant doesn't sell it, you can BYOB.

Folks live in VA and they can buy wine and beer in the grocery but the hard stuff only at ABC.

When I lived in Colorado you could get wine and beer in the grocery and hard at the liquor store. On Sundays though the liquor stores were closed and you could only by 3.2 beer at the grocery store. It was wierd. 3.2 beer refers to the alcohol content.

kgadley01 said:

Pennyslvania is a Commonwealth if that gives you a clue.

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Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth. Pennsylvania is a State which calls itself a Commonwealth. Blue laws are archaic - there should be a law against them!

Will the PA laws affect the pricing and availability of beer/wine/spirits sold at the 2011 National Rally?

kgadley01 said:

Pennyslvania is a Commonwealth if that gives you a clue.

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VA also considers itself a commonwealth. But, that really holds no relevance (from wiki):

Belquar said:

Folks live in VA and they can buy wine and beer in the grocery but the hard stuff only at ABC.

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That is my experience in VA.

Last summer, I supported a rally near Pittsburgh. I was surprised I couldn't buy beer at Walmart. Had to find some beer store to buy beer.

My question is what's the purpose? Is it to discourage drinking? Why do I have to go to an ABC store if I want anything hard in VA?

Personally, I think such restrictions are archaic.


In WV, I ran into a situation where I tried to buy beer on a holiday (Memorial day or something like). Cashier wasn't sure if I could buy because the "before noon on Sunday" may have applied to holidays too. After about 10 minutes waiting in line while she tried to contact her supervisor, I was able to complete my beer transaction.

PA is one of the last states to totally control alcohol under the guise of "protecting the public from themselves". The real reason is money.

The state liquor system employs hundreds of underemployables, paying them totally unreasonable salaries and benefits. Their union kicks back mega bucks to the politicians to ensure that their jobs and monopoly would be safe.

The beer situation is even worse. The state charters "Beer Distributors" to sell and distribute beer in case or keg lots to either the public or bars. Bars are forbidden to sell more that 144 ounces to an individual, thus protecting the Distributor's monopoly. Again, the distributors kick tons of money back to the pols to ensure their monopoly.

No matter how the public howls about this situation, the pols will not vote it out fearing loss of campaign dollars.

squiffynimrod said:

Will the PA laws affect the pricing and availability of beer/wine/spirits sold at the 2011 National Rally?

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Yup, bring your own. The other weird part of PA law is there are beverage stores that sell beer, but you have to buy an entire case! NO 6 pack sales. To buy a 6 pack you have to go to a package store, which is a bar or restaurant that sells beer. There you can purchase a 6. In fact some restaurants do NOT serve, but as mentioned are licensed for consumption, and are package stores?? So you can't order a beer from the waitress, but can go to the cooler pick up a 6, and pay for it at the register, then take it back to the table and consume it with the meal???

That said, there is the Bull Frog brewery in Williamsport that serves food and beverage and sells Growlers for take out of there very fine brews, and a place, I believe in Watson that is a restaurant that has a good selection of 6 and 12's for reasonable prices. And rt 44 N of Bloomsburg is a nice ride for sure.

Pennsylvania is conservative

Plenty of beer available in Bloomsburg and very close to the Rally site.

Campus Beer Distributor
3 N Iron St Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Beverage Station‎
645 Locust Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Bloom Party Center‎
1233 Columbia Boulevard, Bloomsburg, PA 17815

One of my favorite stops is Russells just staggering distance to the rally site and the gutters are wide and clean just in case. Most likely Russells will be packed by expensive beer drinking BMW riders who are on fluid restriction.

The Liquor Control Board requires grocery stores selling beer to have an area of at least 400 square feet partitioned off, with seating for at least 30 people who can be served prepared food and check out at a separate counter. This new law is being protested by Beer Distributors who are losing sales. And concerned public that cashiers under the age of 18 maybe working the counter.

Pa also allows Sunday sales since 2002 at their liquor stores. They also allow wine tasting at the vineyards so customers can make a informed choice.

As democratic majority the state is it is still very conservative. And you shouldn't be drinking beer you should be out riding.

In Kansas, if I remember correctly, you can't get a drink with your meal in a restaurant, only in a private club. How do they get around this? They set aside a section of the restaurant as a private club. If you want a beer or glass of wine with your meal, you pay some nominal fee ($1), when you come in, to join the club. They then seat you in the club section.
When I was in college in Michigan in the sixties, the town (East Lansing) was dry. Whenever a referendum to change that situation made it to the ballot, the liquor stores that ringed the town would invest big bucks in the campaign to keep East Lansing dry. On Sunday, you couldn't buy alcohol anywhere.

It's Wisconsin. There's hardly any place you can't buy beer. Although no one under 21 can sell it to you, if you are with your own kids over the age of 16 (NEW LAW - there has been no age restriction until now), they can drink with you.

FWIW, a 12-pack of Leinie's goes for about $11 here, New Glarus brews are about $7/6-pack ... and both are at Walmart.

Since I hardly buy any hard liquor here, I don't notice whether there are any further restrictions on it. If so, it's not much. Is $21 for 750 ml of Bailey's Irish Cream good?

535is said:

FWIW, a 12-pack of Leinie's goes for about $11 here, New Glarus brews are about $7/6-pack ... and both are at Walmart.

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Hmmm...This whole PA Beer panic sounds like a great opportunity for me and the lowly Toyota pick-up at the BMWMOA National in Bloomsburg. At $7 per six pack for Miller / Bud / Yuengling products I can make a $2~3 profit per six pack. Better yet, I could sell Bitburg half-liters for $10/8-pack and still make a buck or two.

I might be the humanitarian thing to do........

It's a bit rustic here in Fly-over-land. We brew our own.

We here in The Commonwealth revel in our archaic notion of religion, guns and where to purchase quality beers, ales and fine liquor at ten times the going rate. We are a model of corruption and proud of our heritage. And the next governor could be the guy that levied a 10% drink tax. So if you're coming in 2011, be prepared to go to church, get shot at for trespassing, and have your pockets fleeced.