R.A.Danny: Is this presently an issue or is there a prediction of rampant alcoholic pant pissing rampage if distributors don't get their way?

there's a bill, i think. the distributers want to sell six packs, but not allow grocery stores and convenience stores to.

that's probably because distributors are sole proprietorships that can't be a part of a chain, so they don't have the capital or cash flow to compete with 7-11 or big corporations on six pack sales.

nothing will change. the whole beer and liquor system set-up is a gordian knot that no lawmaker wants to unravel.

hubiestubert: This makes about as much sense as a football bat.

It makes plenty of sense. Right now, the distributors get to sell at retail prices and don't have to bother with delivery. They might get more volume by distributing to the grocery stores, but the margins will be lower and there will be higher out-of-pocket costs to actually get it into the consumers' hands.

IrateShadow:
A number of states have completely farked liquor laws. Up until 2 or 3 years ago, one of them (I think South Carolina) had a law on the book that all mixed drinks at a bar must be poured from those mini bottles.

Correct, you had to use the mini airplane bottles. Long Islands are my favorite but a complete biatch to order under that system. They repealed it a few years ago thankfully.

Though you can still only buy liquor in stores that contain only liquor (can't get beer at the same place), only until 7 pm and not on Sunday. At least you can buy beer on Sunday in a few counties, unlike Georgia.

The place is already a post-Apocalyptic wasteland. I drove all the way across it a few years back on U.S. 30, right through the barely pumping heart of the place. What a dump!

They even filmed a chunk of The Road along the Pa. Turnpike. Type-casting.

/Was born there, and am proud to say I am from Pennsylvania.

oldebayer: They even filmed a chunk of The Road along the abandoned stretches of the Pa. Turnpike. Type-casting.

be fair

elchip: I think in Utah, you're not allowed to order a drink in an establishment that sells food... unless you also order food.

We have, bars, taverns, and restaurants and each has different rules.

You are not allowed to order only alcohol in a restaurant-you must buy food and drink. Some will allow the purchase of an appetizer split between people to count so everyone can get drinks but I don't know if that is ok from a legal point of view.

In a bar that is not the case, they can sell food but you don't have to buy it.

Taverns can only sell beer. No liquor.

EvilEgg: GaryPDX: Last time I checked, you had to buy a "membership" to a given establishment too. You needed to belong to a private "club" to drink. Utah is weird.

They sell the memberships at the door, so it's like a cover charge without a band.

Not anymore. Thank god.

Until 7/1/09 that was the case. You had to get a "membership" to get in. Now no memberships are required but EVERYONE has to show and have their ID scanned. Your info is saved for a couple weeks and deleted. That is intended to help prosecution of various crimes but so far I have never heard of it being used for anything.

It is nice to know that at least Utah has somewhere worse as far as dumb liquor laws go.

Thanks PA

joshthewaster: EvilEgg: GaryPDX: Last time I checked, you had to buy a "membership" to a given establishment too. You needed to belong to a private "club" to drink. Utah is weird.

They sell the memberships at the door, so it's like a cover charge without a band.

Not anymore. Thank god.

Until 7/1/09 that was the case. You had to get a "membership" to get in. Now no memberships are required but EVERYONE has to show and have their ID scanned. Your info is saved for a couple weeks and deleted. That is intended to help prosecution of various crimes but so far I have never heard of it being used for anything.

I think they keep it to see if your 3rd or 4th wife met in a bar the other night.

Too many hoops to jump through.

Glad I smoke my liquor. Makes things simpler.

so Pennsylvania::Beer Hysteria as the US::Universal Health Care Hysteria.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: A recent proposal to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell beer in Pennsylvania - without on-premises consumption - will ...reduce availability of craft brands... local distributors said.


I find that really, REALLY hard to believe.


You'd better believe it. Oregon is a beer desert because of this. If you look at the number of breweries per capita, I think we are way back at #2^*. We would be #1 if we only allowed licensed professionals to distribute beer.

^*Behind Colorado, IIRC

madmann: Too many hoops to jump through.

Glad I smoke my liquor. Makes things simpler.


Do you use a beer bong?

I'll still buy this by the case at my local beer distributer...


and then weep when it goes off-sale for another year.

/mmm...Pennsylvania beer

CT still won't let them sell on Sunday.

This country is really becoming a global embarrassment to anyone with an IQ above room temperature...

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Weaver95: GaryPDX: What about home brewing? I imagine it's pretty popular there, yes?

depends on the area. outside of the major cities, yes - there are a number of people who brew their own.

Can only speak anecdotally, but there seems to be a good micro-brew culture in Pittsburgh. I know a handful of homebrewers too.

As a future Pittsburger, I sure hope so.

sgilman: superdolfan1: TIME OUT!

I tried to read the entire article, but couldn't get to the end.

Are you saying that you can't buy beer in a grocery store or a convenience store in PA? Seriously? You have to go into a liquor store to buy it? And they call us in Alabama backwards?

I freaked out when they wouldn't allow Sunday sales of beer when I first came here 20 years ago (2 years later they passed a law that said buying beer on Sundays is cool), but not being able to buy it at the same time you buy a gallon of milk is absurd.

Someone tell me I missed something in the article and that you can walk into a 7-11 and get a six pack anytime you want if you live in PA.

State liquour laws are farked in most states. Here in CO, I can go buy a 6 pack at 7-11 but it's shiatty 3.2 beer. We only recently started allowing liqour stores to sell on Sundays, even though you could still go to a bar or 7-11 to get 3.2 piss water.

I stopped at a gas station in NM that sold Jello shots.

tbyte: Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Weaver95: GaryPDX: What about home brewing? I imagine it's pretty popular there, yes?

depends on the area. outside of the major cities, yes - there are a number of people who brew their own.

Can only speak anecdotally, but there seems to be a good micro-brew culture in Pittsburgh. I know a handful of homebrewers too.

As a future Pittsburger, I sure hope so.
I can't speak for beer but home made wine is pretty popular in Pgh.

Look, liquor store owners always biatch about this stuff. If it were up to them, liquor stores would be open one hour a day and they would have no competition of any kind.

I remember standing in line at a liquor store in CT a few years ago, when the law moving mandatory closing time of liquor stores from 8 to 9 was about to go into effect. The owner and the cashier were standing there in full view of everyone complaining loudly that people should have to come to their stores when they felt like being open, that it wasnt fair because it was going to cost them more to compete, etc. I would have walked out, except that it was 5 minutes til 8. The open contempt for the guy's customers was just amazing.

Weaver95: A recent proposal to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell beer in Pennsylvania - without on-premises consumption - will put distributors out of business, shrink the workforce, generate violations, aggravate problem drinking, reduce availability of craft brands, hurt taverns and be generally unfair, local distributors said.

awww...is someone a wittle upset about losing our monopoly?

Just remmeber, if you can't win by competing, win by paying off the government.

Post-apocalyptic beer run thread!!!

superdolfan1: TIME OUT!

I tried to read the entire article, but couldn't get to the end.

Are you saying that you can't buy beer in a grocery store or a convenience store in PA? Seriously? You have to go into a liquor store to buy it? And they call us in Alabama backwards?

I freaked out when they wouldn't allow Sunday sales of beer when I first came here 20 years ago (2 years later they passed a law that said buying beer on Sundays is cool), but not being able to buy it at the same time you buy a gallon of milk is absurd.

Someone tell me I missed something in the article and that you can walk into a 7-11 and get a six pack anytime you want if you live in PA.


Worked in PA for a while on a project, getting a coldie was a freakin quest of the Gods. For a case, not a cold case mind you, you had to go to a distributor. Staying in a hotel, without a frig, not sure what to do with a case.

A cold six pack had to be bought at a bar, but in a six pack.

I explained that in NC we could buy beer in singles at the convenience store. Some people were concerned that people might drink those on the way home.

I looked at them in wonderment, and agreed that was pretty much the idea. When I told them about the brew throughs on the Outer Banks they were amazed

We're still paying alcohol taxes to pay for the Johnstown flood. That should tell you just about everything you need to know about our alcohol laws.

Weaver95: A recent proposal to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell beer in Pennsylvania - without on-premises consumption - will put distributors out of business, shrink the workforce, generate violations, aggravate problem drinking, reduce availability of craft brands, hurt taverns and be generally unfair, local distributors said.

awww...is someone a wittle upset about losing our monopoly?

Dude. What they need to do is allow distributors to sell mixed packs.

Otherwise you have to go to an establishment with an on-site consumption license, and they can charge up to $5.50 for a bottle that would cost $1.75 per unit if bought by the case.

After reading this thread, and seeing all the hoops you have to jump through just to get a farking 6 pack, Indiana liquor laws don't seem all that bad. We can't buy alcohol on Sunday, but the other 6 days of the week you can get beer, wine, or hard liquor in any reasonable quantity (3 case limit at grocery stores and gas stations I think) from liquor stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

By allowing Pennsylvania grocery and convenience stores to sell beer, the state will become a post-apocalyptic wasteland where sellers of cheap beer will ravage the land unchecked, killing everybody you hold dear

So... pretty much just like the day before they allowed grocery stores to sell beer?

Stinkyy: Post-apocalyptic beer run thread!!!

Woot!

Weaver95: superdolfan1: Are you saying that you can't buy beer in a grocery store or a convenience store in PA?

that is correct. there are some supermarkets that are permitted to sell six packs, but they have a LOT of taxes on those sales. and it's not allowed state wide, just in a few supermarkets.

the way things currently work, it's an advantage to the local distributors. they've got a lock on the market, customers are forced to buy an entire case at a time (even if they don't WANT a whole case) and there isn't any real competition for their market niche. Oh, and the state government keeps the status quo for them.

That's how businesses work in this state - you get the state government to create a monopoly for you, then you pay the legislators to maintain that monopoly at the expense of your customers.

Also, those places are on-site consumption because they have cafes or other eateries.

Weaver95: MonkeyVegetables: all of this needs to be put on a "Welcome to PA" billboard at the border

you should see the number of liquor stores on the state border. people cross over to maryland all the damn time if they need to stock up before a party or the holidays. it's actually worth it to make the trip, even considering gas prices.

Holy cow. There's actually an advantage to buying beer in MD? Are all MD counties as bad as the one Bethesda is in? Cuz that didn't seem any better than what you describe. Beer was way overpriced and selection sucked...

Walker: But if you want harder stuff you have to go to Soviet-style ABC stores run by the government. So we're still not as wild as some states, where there are drive-thru liquor stores, but compared to PA we are downright liberal when it comes to alcohol laws.

We have drive through stores and grocery places selling everything including the hard stuff.

Indiana is just bizzaro world on sunday, no liquor sales and no bars unless that bar also has a significant restaurant business as well.

Weaver95: WTF Indeed: Weaver95: albo: oldebayer: They even filmed a chunk of The Road along the abandoned stretches of the Pa. Turnpike. Type-casting.

be fair

He is being fair. some of the non-abandoned areas of this state look post-apocalypse all on their own.

Johnstown.

Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
almost all of carbon county
Perry county (although that's more 'deliverance' than 'post-apocalypse')

lots of place around here that were simply abandoned.

I was recently looking for a place to live around the Lehigh Valley/Pocono Mts. Words cannot describe some of the dumps for sale or rent around here. The Slate Belt is just damn depressing.

Doctor Funkenstein: WTF Indeed: Johnstown.

I think it very well may be the most depressing place on the planet. That town is actually why I'm agnostic and not atheist. I simply can't dismiss the possibility that there may be a higher power because only something supernatural could hate something so much that it becomes as dreary and depressing as Johnstown.

Johnstown

overcast september-april

For all the people in Pennsylvania, I'm going to teach you two new words ...

Beer Kegs.

Say it with me ...

know it, live it, love it.

/lives in PA