Mending the Malt

You’re on your way to a friend’s house for a relaxing evening. On the side of the road, you see a gas station and stop in to buy a six-pack of beer. BUT WAIT. You’re in Pennsylvania, so you have to get soda instead.

Trying to buy beer in PA is a true bummer. You need either to buy a case from a licensed distributor or a six-pack from a licensed restaurant. While you can easily purchase beer in the grocery stores of many other states, such freedom does not exist here.

In 2004, the Liquor Control Board allowed the Sheetz flagship store in Altoona to sell six-packs to go. However, this particular store was a hybrid restaurant/gas station, not a traditional filling station.

Eventually, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against Sheetz because customers could not consume the beer at Sheetz as well as buy it to go.

Wait… does the court want people to drink alcohol at gas stations and then get in their cars and drive? That makes less sense than Tarzan’s habitual clean shave.

As long as police officers continue to enforce DUI laws, grocery stores and gas stations deserve the right to distribute beer. And consumers deserve convenience.

Some horrendous drunks populate State College, but how much damage can a couple six-packs do? Well, don’t answer that. Regardless, we live in a time of modernity and convenience. Let the beer flow like wine.

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