Northeast Pennsylvania Beer Spots

All the laws go back to the temperance movement in the U.S. Basically if you want singles/4 packs/6 packs you need to go to a bottle shop and there is a carryout limit off 192 oz in those places. If you want more than that, you need to go to a distributor for cases. But you have to buy the entire case; no breaking it up. Taxes are also pretty high on beer in PA, and if the taxes don't drive the price up, the bottle shops will jack the price up.

 

Actually, PA is tied for 3rd lowest tax on beer in the country at .08/gal. But anyway, welcome to PA. Liquor and wine are only sold to go at the state owned stores (ahhh,nothin' like a good old fashioned monopoly). All of the stores and bottle shops I will mention should be listed in the places directory on this site. For cases (PA gets a large amount of variety packs from breweries) hit Plaza Beverage, Taylor Beverage, Ace Beverage, LT Verrastro. For singles, four/six packs, bombers, etc., Exit 190 Beer Deli, Jessup Beverage Center, J&H Beer near the Casino outside of Wilkes-Barre, and also Wegmans grocery stores. That should get you started. Any other questions, let me know.

 

Check out 3 Guys and a Beer'd; many taphandles in Carbondale. In bottles as well. Nimble Hill, brewed in Meshoppen, can be found in bottles and draft in Tunkhannock; at their facility and Twigs. There may also be Endless Brewing from Montrose here and there.

 

Welcome!
I work in Scranton and live near Wilkes-Barre.

Perfect recommendations above!

 

although more on the other side of Wilkes barre, Georgetown deli has a decent selection of Belgians and USA craft. supposively, they get Cantillon in, however I've never seen it. regardless, a nice selection of bottles and 6/4 packs with 6 or so taps for fills. one thing to note though, many of their single bottle IPAs have 1+ year old bottling date. check dates if you go down that road.

 

Yeah, I purposely did not include this place in my rec's because I assume that the OP, like myself, does not bring along astroglide when beer shopping.

 

Sorry to hear that.

 

Do you get Cigar City in the Scranton area? And if you, which distributors should I look to?

 

You should definitely check out Wegman's now that you are officially a PA resident. Some might say that it is the Publix of Pennyslyvania, but I would argue it is actually even better than Publix.

I definitely respect Wegman's for the way in which they have gamed the PA's weird beer law system, in that they technically separated their prepared food market from their supermarket with a separate checkout area such that they could sell takeout beer in six-packs and bombers from their "restaurant" while such a sale would be prohibited by the supermarket itself. They generally have a pretty decent beer selection (especially for a supermarket), even though it is likely not on par with some of the great Colorado bottle shops.

Happy hunting, pal.

 

Yoich ! No redeeming feature here?

 

I'm not saying that Wegman's can claim the same quality of cashiers as Publix historically, but it is probably my favorite large grocery store chain in the country.

 

if you want to go to a place that has great food as well as probably 350+ in terms of selection, go to Sabatinis Pizza in exeter. Has an amazing selection, close to 100 belgian beers, plus other hard to finds. better selection than lots of the aforementioned places. No "filler" beers... just good stuff.

 

One of the few places you can actually sit down and enjoy a Cantillon. The other day I had a Dogfish Head Fort. Have also had vintage Angel's Share, among other things. Prices are reasonable, too. And the pizza's good.

 

The good thing about that part of town is craft beer has not taken off so the places that do get good stuff usually has it for a while. You usually don't have to hunt too much for something you want.

 

All of the spots mentioned so far are good but you might also want to try the following :

Backyard Ale house -downtown Scranton...good draft and excellent bottle list

Susquehanna Brewery - Pittston, free tours on Saturdays @ 2:00 with all of the samples you can drink

Breaker Brewing Co - Wilkes Barre - 10 drafts that are sampled for free, and they have Growlers...brewpub coming soon

Coopers Restaurant in Scranton and Pittston - Good Draft and Bottle Selection, Scranton has a beer club

 

Echoing a lot of what has been written here but:

1) Sabatini's Pizza in Exeter: AMAZING bottle list. Lot's or rare and Vintage beers, a lot of which are not on their list, so ask if they don't have what you are looking for.

2) J&H Beer by the Mohegan Sun Casino is a absolutely fantastic joint. The crew there is super friendly and will bend over backwards to get something you're looking for.

3) Backyard Ale House in Downtown Scranton just started doing individual bottle/six packs to go at reduced prices, and is very reasonable. Pretty big selection but rarely see endangered species.

4) Wegmans is nice for your "go to's" and regulars, and very reasonably priced. Their Dickson city and Wilkes-barre locations differ in stock so it's worth it hit both if you have the time.

If you're looking for local beer heads and feel like trying hard to finds and unique stuff, a group of use to Monthly tastings ...... you can check out info on that here if your interested

 

Breaker brewpub now open.