Hi all, I just recently took a position as a beverage manager at a new Public House opening up in south central Pennsylvania. Because of the close proximity to the Mason Dixon line and the amount of small breweries opening up around me, I want to keep at least a couple taps open for local breweries. I've looked and looked online for laws about getting kegs directly from small breweries and over the MD line but I cannot find anything to actually explains what I can and cannot do. Can anybody help me figure this out so I can A: support my local breweries, and B: not break the law and be in trouble with the PLCB. Thanks!!
Agreed. There a lot of places I would love to be able to purchase product from but I am not 100% sure of the legality of it. It's driving me nuts because there are a few nice breweries that I would love to be able to order from, but I am not sure if I can.
The best source of information is directly from PLCB. Best to write them and get a written response for CYA reasons. As far as I know, all alcoholic beverages coming from out of state in to PA has to go through PLCB for approval so unless the small breweries across state line are approved to distro into PA, you can't have the beer sold in PA legally.
States typically require retailers to buy their beer for resale only from licensed wholesalers or in-state breweries - otherwise the state excise tax on the beer would not have been paid to the correct state.
Both Maryland and PA allow for self distribution. Someone more knowledgeable than me on specifics can pipe in here too as the state line may interfere with that ability as Jesskidden said. The PLCB should be able to answer the question if it is legally able to be sold in PA and whether you can buy directly from an out of state brewery.
The PLCB does not mess around. Here's a link to a news story from back in 2010 - when the PLCB performed armed raids at a few bars in Philly. It was all over whether the beers were legally registered with the PLCB for sale in PA. Some of them ended up being simple typo errors. It was a big story at the time http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news/pennsylvania&id=86796597
Yup, PLCB site. I, as a bit of a daydreamer, have hoped to maybe some day open my own bottle shop and stop working for the man and their site pretty much answered every question I was coming up with except for the stuff like construction costs and blah blah.
It will be located at Liberty Mountain Resort in Fairfield, PA. The name is The Eagle and the Owl Public House, and will have 20 different beers tapped at a time.
Contact ACE Distributing. Based in York, PA, and they carry 75 craft breweries as a wholesale distributor. Their footprint is into Adams County. Ask for Nate
