Sunday Beer Sales In PA Slower Than Forecasted

Is PA one of those states where you have to go to a separate "state run" store to buy beer & wine and anything alcoholic?

J. Alstrom wrote:

No for beer, (and businesses with names like "W.R. Hickey Beer Distributor Inc." and "Pletcher's Beer Distributor" is kinda a give-away) but yes for wine and liquor

Basically, beer is sold retail only by the case (no less) by "beer distributors", lesser quantities by bars and other shops ("6 pack shops" that usually sell prepared food, as well), usually at much higher prices (do they still limit the amount that can be sold at one time to one person to 2 six-packs?). It's pretty much a system unique to PA (and, I've always felt was one of the reasons that more of PA's small breweries survived than most every other states, in the pre-microbrewery era).

I can't think of ANY state that only allows *beer* sales from "state stores". (Even Ontario's "Beer Stores" are a privately-owned, tho' a state-sanctioned monopoly, right?).

OK, I guess I meant, "do you have to go to a separate store to buy beer & wine?"

As opposed to like here in California, where you can buy any alcoholic beverage in the grocery store, along with your bread & butter, meat and potatos, etc.

I remember visiting British Columbia (Canada) once, and you had to buy your beer a a separate store, and it turned out they weren't open on Sundays.

I thought it was a "state run" store, because it had all the ambiance of your basic government owned establishment.

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Yeah, from state to state, alcohol sales laws do differ quite a bit. I'm in New Jersey, where we have separate "liquor stores" and all alcoholic "package goods" are sold in them for the most part- altho' there are exceptions- some grocery stores and drug stores have licenses and sell alcohol along side their other goods. I'd always thought that these were older licenses, grandfathered into current laws, until towns started giving new big box "club" stores licenses for the same sort of sales.

Some states treat all alcoholic beverage sales the same, some separate beer from wine & liquor, others beer & wine from liquor. Sometimes makes it difficult for sake, cider, "wine cooler" & "malt alternative" marketers.

A state-by-state list of where, when and how alcoholic beverages are sold would make a good website. (I'd do it, but I'd rather sit on the back deck and drink beer...).

Yeah, I used to think the same about Ontario's beer stores, but apparently they're owned by the two big brewers (Molson and Labatt).

er, three...

and Sleeman's (which is just entering the NJ market, with stickers on their 12 packs stating "Canada's #1 Craft Brewery" (or something like that).... well, I guess they do own Unibroue now, as well as selling (and contract-brewing, I take it...) Pabst, Lone Star, Old Milwaukee, Rainier and Stroh's.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com sings of arms, the man, and Usenet news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Gee, Minnesota is practically Canada. Same way here.

Even that question ends up being a bit broad. I don't know of anywhere that has stores that sell beer and wine and absolutely nothing else. There are states, however, that don't allow any alcohol sales in groceries. Minnesota and Oklahoma come immediately to mind. You have to go to a liquor store there, where they sell beer, wine and hard alcohol, and no real food to speak of (some pretzels and jerkey and the like, at least in Minnesota).

I'd say that states that allow full alcohol sales at groceries and drug stores are in the minority, although the last three I've lived in (California, Illinois and Indiana) all allow it. But a lot of places keep hard liquor out of groceries and drug stores, even if they allow beer and wine (places like New York and Washington; Wisconsin, too, IIRC).

As for the original question, PA requires beer to be bought from beer distributors (or whatever the rigth term is - stores that sell beer by the case) or by the 6-pack from bars. I don't believe grocery or drug store sales are allowed.

-Steve

Pretty much correct, although there are workarounds. Major one is that you can buy a bar/tavern license for your deli or pizza place and use it just to sell beer to go.

Here in Kansas, you can only buy 3.2% beer in grocery and convenience stores. When I was 18, you were allowed to buy the 3.2 beer. There were bars that sold only sold the 3.2 beer that 18 year olds could go to. The drinking age was changed to 21 across the board, but the 3.2 beer still survives.

All liquor, wine, and beer must be sold in liquor stores. The liquor stores can sell nothing else, no mixers, ice, corkscrews, etc. Many liquor stores have shops right next door that sell mixers, ice, tobacco, etc. They have to have separate entrances, as well as being a separate company. Within the last year or so, Sunday sales were allowed. It started with areas near the Missouri state line, because the stores claimed they were losing business.

In Missouri, grocery, convenience and drug stores can sell anything. They have decent selections, but for beer, you really need to go to a liquor store. It's very similar to California.

----------------------------------------------------- Pete Clouston Lawrence (KS) Brewers Guild

I'm in BC. The government liquor stores have always been closed on Sundays. They sell beer and wine and everything else. In order to get beer on Sunday you'd have to go to a cold beer and wine store, usually run by a hotel. That was until about two years ago. Now there are many private liquor stores that sell any- thing any day. Government liquor stores are still closed on Sundays, but they also have the best selec- tion. The cold beer and wine stores now carry harder stuff, just like the private liquor stores do. Just make sure you get to any liquor-selling store before

I liked it in Oregon. You could buy whisky at the local pharmacy but you couldn't pump your own gas...

-'dreas