Attn PA brewers: www.freemybeer.com

Don't know if any fellow PA residents have heard of this site, but its supposed to be a petition to help liberate beer sales throughout the state. I have no idea if it will actually do anything, but I thought I'd pass it along.

www.freemybeer.com

Should have put something along the line of "Attn PA brewers" in the title...if they don't know what it they may not take the time to look.

On another note, best of luck to you guys. I dont know what is wrong with the current sales laws in your state, but from glancing at that page you need to go to a liquor store to buy beer? Just a guess. I know that PA is actually a good state for opening a brewery, due to certain laws.... hopefully they help the consumers out too!

Note that it's sponsored by Sheetz. I don't quite get beer laws, but are you sure you want a gas station writing the new laws? Things to consider- I don't know answers- but how will gas stations owned by large corporations work with small local breweries? Will they only want to deal with BMC?
I guess beer with a Pretzel Melt would be better than the current system... ah... I must get one while I'm out there

PA beverage laws are among the worst in the nation. You go to a "state store" for liquor (where the hours suck and the prices are worse). However, there is no beer at the "state store." For beer, you go to a "distributor," where you can only buy by the case. If you only want a six pack, you go to a bar and pay exorbitant carry out prices. At a bar, you are limited to two six packs. There is no beer, wine, or liquor available in grocery stores, gas stations, etc, and buying any sort of alcohol on Sunday is nearly impossible.

As yuri said the PA Liquor laws are unique.

Buying beer or any Malt beverage (ie Smirnoff Ice) in qty's less than a case is a nightmare. Part of the reason I'm taking up home brewing

The odd thing about the state liquor stores is that we get some specialty liquors at amazing prices that often impossible to find.

My FIL will visit from NJ to get a 1.5L of several boutique bourbons that you normally can't find north of the Mason Dixon and at nearly the same prices he paid at the distiller in Tennessee.

That being said the only thing worse than a Monopoly is a government run one.

Sheetz wants the law changed so they can sell beer. For the time being they are the enemy of my enemy besides if you can't trust a gas station equipped with a both a fryulator and full bore late machine who can you trust

On the bright side, however, PA has drive-thru beer distributors. Nothing finer than popping the trunk and having someone fill it.

My father told me about them as I went away to college. When I found out the town my school was in had one, I was in heaven.

PA also closes state stores on holidays . . . or at least did back in the 80s. We used to have to hoof it back to NJ on those days. As I recall, a credit card could not be used either for purchasing. Admittedly, my experience is from some time ago.

I honestly don't care who is able to change these laws, I just want to be able to buy beer at my convenience and not the state's. Yes BMC will control most of the shelf space, but they do this at the distributors now anyway. And I actually think the local craft breweries will gain from this as well. As a lot of people are aware, Philly has a real strong craft beer scene (Pittsburgh to a lesser degree) and this will make the grocery and convenient stores stock at least some craft beers.

I just hate having to take a gamble with buying a whole case of beer that I have never tried before. And as Yuri stated, 6 pack prices are laughable they are so high.

I hope these laws change soon, but I am not holding my breathe.

Yuri_Rage said:

PA beverage laws are among the worst in the nation. You go to a "state store" for liquor (where the hours suck and the prices are worse). However, there is no beer at the "state store." For beer, you go to a "distributor," where you can only buy by the case. If you only want a six pack, you go to a bar and pay exorbitant carry out prices. At a bar, you are limited to two six packs. There is no beer, wine, or liquor available in grocery stores, gas stations, etc, and buying any sort of alcohol on Sunday is nearly impossible.

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You are completely correct sir, these laws range back to the 1800's Quaker "blue" religious laws. We just recently were allowed to buy beer on Sundays from 12-5. This state is bull**** I love going to states where they have a beer section and I can't even get the Costco beer everyone talks about. I am all for revamping the laws it works fine in every other state.

No problem with credit cards now.
And Sheetz is still, I believe, a family business, a big one but still a family business. Besides, anything to open up the market to sales in grocery stores, etc. like most of the rest of the country is fine with me. I wouldn't care if it was WalMart or whoever your favorite, evil retailer may be.

Thanks for the change in the title, I didn't even think about that.

I have to agree with Brew Hoperator, I really don't care how the laws get changed - and like I stated, I don't even know if the petition will do anything, but the rules here are pretty bad. I remember vacationing in NC this past summer, walking into the grocery store and being amazed at the selection of beer by the bottle. The Brew Thru stores down there were fantastic.
I had heard somewhere that there were talks about allowing distributors to sell six packs, hopefully creating more competitive prices at bars.

I know the petition is a long shot, and I know it may be sponsored by Sheetz, but when it comes to expanding my ability to get beer, I'm all about it.

It's a funny thing but Sheetz was granted a chance to sell beer from their main store. Unfortunately, this was revoked by the state for the reason they discuss below from Sheetz.com

Pennsylvania's liquor laws have been on the books since the 1930's - the Prohibition era. Does anyone really think that these 70 and 80 year old laws still make sense?
Sheetz tried to make it more convenient to buy beer, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said no. They revoked our license to sell beer at our Convenience Restaurant in Altoona because we want to sell our customers beer without having to serve it in our store.
Put another way, it's OK to encourage drinking and driving, but it's not OK for us to tell customers, "Sure, we'll sell you beer, but we want you to take it home and drink it. We don't want you to drink it here and then get behind the wheel." Does that make any sense at all?
Sheetz is prepared to lead the movement to bring common sense to beer laws, but we can't do it alone. Millions of people across the United States enjoy the freedom of purchasing alcoholic beverages in convenience and grocery stores. We want that same freedom for our customers in Pennsylvania.

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http://capwiz.com/sheetz/home/

Makes no sense to me either. However, it does fit with Pennsylvania's motto to stay non-progressive and maintain dumb laws at the cost of benefiting it's local companies.

i live in pa near the DE border, and i never buy beer in PA and rarely buy liquor/wine in PA. The state stores do have some random great deals you cant find anywhere elses, but other then that, i head over the border to DE and come back with my case of wine, a few bombers and a pick and choose six pack

so basically their laws are hurting their businesses because i know i'm not alone

Man, I thought we had it bad in WA. We can get anything under about 20% in a grocery or C-Store. Hard liquor is controlled by the state. And yes, C-stores carry almost all BMC.

I live in PA, and I still couldn't tell you how all of this works. I do know that the "State" Stores are a pain in the butt!

As for beer, there are now some supermarkets that are being allowed to offer beer in quantities less than a case. Wegman's and a few specialty markets in my area have a really good selection. I was able to pick up St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and some Unibroue at Wegman's a couple of weeks ago, and I didn't have to buy a case!!

Hopefully this is what they will be moving towards in the future.

Wegman's has been able to sell 6 packs in the store because the beer is located in their "restaurant" section. Just about all of the beer they sell is craft brewed with only a small amount of BMC. There is a place near my house that can sell it by the 6-pack, not sure how they are allowed to do it. But you can go in an build your own 6-pack, the only down side is that it costs ~$15/6-pack.

Sithdad said:

Wegman's has been able to sell 6 packs in the store because the beer is located in their "restaurant" section. Just about all of the beer they sell is craft brewed with only a small amount of BMC. There is a place near my house that can sell it by the 6-pack, not sure how they are allowed to do it. But you can go in an build your own 6-pack, the only down side is that it costs ~$15/6-pack.

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Yea the wegmans by me has a pretty good selection but the prices are out of control. For the price they charge for 2 sixers I could go to the beer distributor and get a case of the same beer

What's with the bag situation at Wegman's, though?

They cannot give you a bag for the 750ml bottles unless you ask specifically for it. Another strange PA law?

Weez, it's not the beer laws at wegmans. They check out people cannot bag your beer for you. The reason is because there are people under 18 working there I believe. I don't understand that at all. But I am not going to argue with a store that has a pretty nice supply of a variety of beers.

OMJ, the difference is that you have options at wegmans. You don't have to buy a case that is going to cost 80 dollars for something you have never had. And the prices are not ridiculous considering the RIDICULOUS laws they need to contend with.

There are some awesome beers at a grocery store. That is what I like.

The laws need to change. F#DK the state stores.

I have a friend who is a VP for Weis grocery stores and they are currently undertaking getting some stores retrofitted to sell beer.

The way six-pack stores, wegmans, and soon to be Weis get away with selling less than a case, is that they operate under a "cafe" liquor license. Don't quote the exact number, but if there are 16 seats in your "cafe"/restaurant you can sell by the individual bottle or six-packs with this license. There is also some stipulation about your cafe/restaurants selling of food, etc. IIRC he said the bar rules apply though, in that you cannot buy more than a 12 pack at one time.

So basically these places are just using a loophole.

If this initiative Sheetz is promoting goes through, it would benefit local businesses, and consumers though. As mentioned, bars, Wegmans, six-pack stores are still expensive.

But with open competition, not a small minority operating through loopholes, prices would come down.

When I moved here 18 months ago from SoCal I was floored... in SoCal I could walk into Ralph's or Vons any day of the week and always find a good craft brew on sale for at least $6.99. Heck, when Hoegarden and Smithwick's made it to Albertson's they ran $3.99 six-packs in my area, and that was only 2-3 years ago!

That is what I hope a law like this could create... the ability to pick up a quality craft brew, not necessarily the DFH or Stone Ruinations, but just the Sam Adams, New Belgium, Alaskan, etc at a reasonable price when you are just looking for a tasty brew to take to a picnic, party, or whatever.

I have signed on and I am forwarding to my local brew buds too!

Wegman's is an awesome store for us craft brew starved Pennsylvanians. I recently started going to the one by me in Warrington. Nice beer selection. 480 different beers is what they advertise.

By the time Pennsylvania gets appropriate alcohol laws we'll ALL be dead from an asteroid.

Just signed on at the Sheetz in Moon twp last night...after paying almost $20 for a variety sixer in the same location just a few days ago. Its just not right that we are expected to pay the price for an entire case of any beer that we want to try.

cyberbackpacker said:

I have a friend who is a VP for Weis grocery stores and they are currently undertaking getting some stores retrofitted to sell beer.

The way six-pack stores, wegmans, and soon to be Weis get away with selling less than a case, is that they operate under a "cafe" liquor license. Don't quote the exact number, but if there are 16 seats in your "cafe"/restaurant you can sell by the individual bottle or six-packs with this license. There is also some stipulation about your cafe/restaurants selling of food, etc. IIRC he said the bar rules apply though, in that you cannot buy more than a 12 pack at one time.

So basically these places are just using a loophole.

If this initiative Sheetz is promoting goes through, it would benefit local businesses, and consumers though. As mentioned, bars, Wegmans, six-pack stores are still expensive.

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If the Weis in my town got converted that would be great. It's only a mile down the road and I am there almost every other day anyway. I am going to sign up right now.