Beer troubles in Pennsylvania

TOM KAN PA · 2004-06-14T18:29:40+00:00

State beer sales going flatPer capita drinking lowest since 1947Monday, June 14, 2004By Bill Toland, Post-Gazette Harrisburg BureauHARRISBURG -- All this depressing talk about Pittsburgh's impending taxincreases and another losing season for the Pirates is enough to drive a personto drink. Jay Goldstein would welcome such a move -- provided you crack open a beerinstead of mixing yourself one of those fancy, fruity cocktails. Goldstein, president of the Pennsylvania Beer Wholesalers Association, says thestate's beer industry is flagging just as badly as the city treasury and thehometown ballclub. State beer tax revenues were down by 5 percent for calendar year 2003, thebiggest single-year drop since World War II. Through this year, beer taxreceipts are down by an additional 3 percent. Translation: Per-capita annual consumption of beer and malt liquor amongdrinking-age Pennsylvania residents is less than 23 gallons a person, thelowest consumption rate since 1947. The slide, Goldstein said, started inFebruary 2003 and has been continuing monthly since then. But is that a bad omen for local brewers and distributors? Or just a one-year,blown-out-of-proportion anomaly, exaggerated by an above-average sales year in2002?Depends on whether your pint glass is half-full or half-empty. Goldstein saysthat while the state has been relaxing liquor and wine laws to allow for Sundaysales hours and a grocery store presence, laws governing beer distribution inPennsylvania remain too strict. "All we can do is stand there and get pummeled and lose more business,"Goldstein said, cursing the Legislature on one hand while crediting JonathanNewman, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, with reinvigoratingthe staid spirits agency. Goldstein, whose family owns beer outlets in Allentown, has his own motives forhighlighting the slumping sales. He's been lobbying the state to allow for thesale of 12-packs at beer distributors, the theory being that a six-pack isn'tenough for a...

Jun 14, 2004 42 Replies

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Lew Bryson 22 years ago

Sounds like a great tip, Joel, thanks. I'll check into it right away.

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Tom Wolper 22 years ago

Going back to an earlier discussion in this thread, I found this at

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(and scroll down to Blair County)

Opponents of a plan to sell beer at a Sheetz gas station packed a hearing before the state Liquor Control Board in Altoona.

A Sheetz subsidiary applied earlier this year for a license to sell beer from its prototype superstore. Sheetz officials say pumps at the store will be on land controlled by a separate lease agreement from the rest of the store. Gas transactions will be handled at the pump only, because beer and gas cannot be sold at the same location under Pennsylvania law.

The liquor board has 60 days to review testimony before issuing a ruling. At least 200 people, mostly those opposed to the sale of beer, filled a meeting room at a hotel in Altoona this week to protest.

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Lew Bryson 22 years ago

God help me, it is just flat-out embarrassing to live in Pennsylvania some days.

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