pa-liquor-control-board

Close-up of bartender serving beers at bar

Report: 58% of underage Pa. residents carded, served booze anyway in 2022 | Thursday Morning Coffee

BY: - July 6, 2023

There were 9,220 alcohol-related crashes in Pennsylvania in 2021, up from 7,700 in 2020, according to a newly released report.

COMMENTARY

Report: High taxes, low profits. Tavern gaming licenses a bust for Pa. | Thursday Morning Coffee

BY: - April 14, 2022

Once hailed as a boon for saloon-keepers, the games haven't lived up to expectations, new data show.

COMMENTARY
A state liquor store front in Harrisburg (Capital-Star photo by Elizabeth Hardison).

Yanking Russian booze is a lay-up. Leaders still need to watch messaging | Monday Morning Coffee

BY: - February 28, 2022

Americans have a nasty habit of sliding into xenophobia. The Russian people aren't the enemy here.

A state liquor store front in Harrisburg (Capital-Star photo by Elizabeth Hardison).

Pa. Liquor Control Board will yank Russian products from its shelves

BY: - February 27, 2022

(*This story was updated at 5:16 p.m. on Sunday, 2/27/22 with additional reporting) Hours after Gov. Tom Wolf issued a call, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said that it will remove Russian-made products from the commonwealth’s roughly 600 state-owned liquor stores as a “show of solidarity and support for the people of Ukraine.” “As of […]

COMMENTARY
A state liquor store front in Harrisburg (Capital-Star photo by Elizabeth Hardison).

The latest push for liquor privatization is a glass half-empty. Here’s why | Opinion

BY: - February 18, 2022

We agree that Pa. should get out of the state-run booze business. But the latest proposal needs some work.

Pa. residents are ‘drinking better, not more’ driving liquor sales growth during pandemic, industry group says

BY: - February 9, 2022

Nationally, super-premium spirits saw the fastest revenue growth in the 2020-21 fiscal year, with a growth rate of 82 percent from the super premium and high-end product categories. 

The top spirits in Pa. as told by Pa.’s state store sales | The Numbers Racket

BY: - December 27, 2021

If purchases are any indicator, unflavored vodka and bourbon are far and away Pennsylvania’s top choices for spirits, with the next closest competing beverage more than $112,000 behind in dollar-for-dollar sales.

COMMENTARY
A state liquor store front in Harrisburg (Capital-Star photo by Elizabeth Hardison).

A Cambria County lawmaker has a plan to make Pa.’s liquor license system more competitive. Will it work? | Mark O’Keefe

BY: - June 18, 2021

Ever wonder why you have to bring alcohol to your favorite restaurant? Ever wonder why your favorite bar closes and never reopens? Situations like the above happen primarily because of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s rules and regulations. In the first situation, a restaurant may not have a liquor license because few are available in […]

What’s holding up Harrisburg lawmakers from making to-go cocktails permanent?

BY: and - June 11, 2021

A top Senate Republican had a fundraiser at the home of someone who’d stand to benefit from private sales of canned cocktails this week.

COMMENTARY
A state liquor store front in Harrisburg (Capital-Star photo by Elizabeth Hardison).

Johnstown lawmaker scores big win in fight with Pa. liquor board. But the fight continues | Mark O’Keefe

BY: - January 26, 2021

The real losers, noted Burns, were taxpayers who paid for the futile legal battle.

Pa. caps off a very strange year in alcohol sales

BY: - January 3, 2021

Retailers raked in a total of $26.5 million in retail sales on March 16, the day Wolf announced the shutdown. That’s more than five times the average day in 2020, and a 249 percent increase from the same day in 2019.

Wolf says Pa. will waive liquor license fees for bars, restaurants struggling under pandemic

BY: - October 22, 2020

The administration said it's working with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to waive "standard" licensing fees through 2021, starting next Jan. 1.