Samuel Adams Utopias returns

Funny that PA has no ABV limit but you are limited to 192oz per transaction anyplace but a beer distributor.


Enjoy

 

3 bottles?! Jay-sus

 

You mean that you are unable to purchase a case of beer unless you go to a distributor!? 18 packs are the max!? Guess I’m crossing PA off of my list of states to move to.

 

16 12 oz beers max at a grocer or any non Beer Distributor. I can buy 500 cases at the beer place down the street from the grocer though. I can also walk in buty 2 six pack and a four pack, walk out and go right back in and do it over and over as long as I leave the building between purchases. Crazy shit.

Enjoy

 

Oops, my math went a tad sideways there.

That’s absolutely wild! One of many examples of asinine government regulation!

 

I'd hit that again! So good.

 

Bought a bottle for $175 nine years ago for my 60th and am contemplating buying another for next year. Hoping to pay less than $300.

 

If any remain, it's probably because they're asking well over $300.

 

I should go. I know a guy who lives in PA who I could see. He’s a vodka guy though so we have never discussed PA’s crazy beer regulations (or any thing beer related for that matter).

I’d make it a road trip too. There’s no way I could fit all the East Coast beer that I’d purchase into an airplane bag!

 

Yeah, but I'd say that the creation and history of PA's post-Repeal "Case laws" was primarily for reasons different from the states with ABV limits. The case law's origin dates from a series of liquor laws signed in July, 1935 by Governor George Howard Earle III, a Democrat (later an official in FDR's administration and presumably a Wet) not the Prohibitionist Pinchot, the previous governor.

The laws, signed in the middle of the Depression, seem to have been designed initially as protectionist laws to help PA's breweries' market and the brewery workers' jobs more than a continuation of aspects of Temperance, but did included the separation of on- and off-premise retailers, government oversight of those 2 industries and preventing the return of the pre-Pro “saloon" culture (initially any licensee for on-premise accounts had to sell meals, too, a provision that still exist to this day, IIRC?) Granted, being a "control state" for wine and liquor is often seen as somewhat prohibitionist.

Pennsylvania had more breweries, post-Repeal, than any other state in the nation - in 1935, there were 107 - 15% of all the breweries in the US (WI was second, with 86).

As soon as the law went into effect, it was challenged in court by the national breweries Schlitz, Pabst and AB, claiming "...it amounted to a virtual establishment of a monopoly for Pennsylvania breweries..." because "importing distributors" (the only ones able to bring out-of-state beer into PA) were charged different licensing fees and bond rates than other distributors, which could buy beer direct from in-state breweries.

The laws also contained a provision that a PA brewery had to be owned by a PA resident (which is why there were no national breweries located in the state, even though it had the strongest brewing heritage in the nation). That part of the law would not be changed until the 1970's when Schaefer built it's huge new brewery outside Allentown (now BBC's) and it wouldn't be until Stroh bought Schaefer in 1980 that a national brewer made PA home.

News reports after Repeal about the development of PA’s laws noted officials were concern about "bootleg" beer being brought in from out-of-state by retailers who had not paid the PA excise tax of 0.5¢/bottle. Limiting the number of retailers and putting them under state licenses (rather than local as had been done previously) was said to be a way to control that problem.

The pre-craft era brewers in PA have always supported and even taken credit for the "case law". To quote the PA. State Brewers Association president in 1980 (Brewers Digest, 10/80), in a speech entitled Why Pennsylvania Has Eight Breweries* ...."We do have good laws...favorable laws". He went on to say that the earliest members of the PSBA were responsible for writing the liquor code after Repeal which "protected the brewers". He also noted then that they'd fought and won the battle to "...keep beer out of grocery stores".

* 8 breweries in 1980 would have been about 20% of all the pre-craft breweries in the US.

According to Dick Yuengling, Jr., the unique distribution system in Pennsylvania was a big factor in the company's survival. "Direct case sales though retail-distributors kept us going," he says. "It gave us a chance at keeping the national brands on a even playing field. They couldn't just come in and drop prices like they did in other states. The 16-oz. returnable was also a big package in this state, and the big guys didn't want to bother with it. That package kept a lot of small breweries alive."

One aspect of the "case law" that is often overlooked is that when it went into effect, there were practically no "six-packs" or "12 packs" - bottled beer came in wooden (later heavy reusable cardboard) cases of 24 bottles, and when sold in smaller quantities it was usually as single bottles. Ditto for the first cans. The language of the laws at the time reflected that and was not uncommon in other states. When brewers created other packages it appears that most states changed their laws to adjust to them, but PA's brewers and distributors were strong enough politically to prevent changes in the case laws.

Still, the limit for bars/take-out shops has gone up over the years (below) - from 72 oz. originally, to 144 oz. in the late 40s-early 50s, and again when 16 oz. bottles became popular in state to it's current 192 oz. The definition of "case" has also been changed over the years to allow for 12-24 oz. and 24-7 oz. "pony" bottle cases.

 

Philly has some good distillers too

Enjoy

 

Was gifted a 2023 bottle at my bachelor party. Pretty nice gift huh?

 

You have a very generous friend, you better keep him around!

 

Wow. All I got at my bachelor party was herpes.

 

Just shared my 2023 bottle. Few really liked it, few didn't like it at all. VERY different from the 2019 I ran into from notes.

 

The fun thing about Utopias is that kegs of it definitely exist, too. Those are valued at somewhere between $5-6K. They usually roll up with one at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting each year. Sometimes it's even an oddball, like Cherry Utopias. They do the same for GABF. I asked the BB rep if they'd ever sold one via retail, and apparently is has happened in the past. No clue what the circumstances were, though.

 

And if you’re going to PA, might as well mosey over to Ohio for some Revolution, Jackie Oh’s…

 

There’s a ton of midwestern brews I’d pick up now if I were to ever be in that part of the country again!

 

Sounds like the State (Commonwealth?) of PA wants to reserve at least some business for the beer distributors. By the way, 192 oz is not really an odd volume if you look at it right. It is exactly one dozen 16 ouncers, or six quart bottles. Quarts take me back to the 70s when I regularly bought Ballantine Ale quarts for home consumption -- resealable one-ways in CA and then tavern tall returnables in NY. A regular treat in those days.