Lehigh Valley Homebrewers

[mkowalski]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20100308_Troopers_raid_popular_bars_for_unlicensed_beers__Dozens_of_gallons_seized_after__citizen_complaint_.html
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...thinking about women and glasses of beer.

[rpiano]

What a pile of crap! Wonder who they pissed off and why the "investigation" didn't lead them to their suppliers who have shelves of the stuff! Seems selective prosecution, and the "guilty until proven innocent" statement is absolutely ridiculous!
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Bob Piano

[jbaran]

Yeah, if anyone is breaking the law here, it would be the wholesalers and distributors that these bars legally bought the beer from. Even still it's ridiculous.

And who is this "citizen" that complained? Probably a competing bar owner. Or maybe the local Bud rep that is sick of seeing his sales go down.

[mmanning]

This is really scary to all bar owners wishing to serve the beer appreciators out there.

How is a bar owner supposed to know that the brewer failed to register their beer? What is the point of having beer distributors if the bar owners have to bear the responsibility of ensuring the products they purchase from the distributor is registered? If the bar owner has this responsibility, then the bar owner should be allowed to purchase directly from the brewer without going through a distributor.

I can't wait to find out who the "citizen" is. I suspect it is a PLCB employee who was sent in as a spy after the bar had already been cited once for selling an unregistered beer.

I hope this entire fiasco gains enough notoriety to revise this antiquated, illogical system we have for alcohol distribution in this state.

[mkowalski]

http://www.lcbapps.lcb.state.pa.us/webapp/registered_brands.asp
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...thinking about women and glasses of beer.

[rpiano]

According to the way the article read, Brew Works hasn't listed all their beers? The flagships are there and some generic labels but Blueberry Belch, Apricot Coriander and many others are not???
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Bob Piano

[jbaran]

I could be wrong, but I believe brewpub beers served on-site are not included in this requirement. I think it's just beers that they distribute externally.

[JoshBushey]

[ahazan]

Government bureaucracy using your tax dollars for the betterment of the greater good. Right.

Things must be really slow in Harrisburg these days. Distributers are now in the bullseye.

http://joesixpack.net/blog/archives/601

[jbaran]

Like that guy said, at least one good thing is that this might be the start of the tipping point that gets everyone worked up enough to contact their reps and get our ridiculous laws changed...

[mmanning]

It's hard to believe (maybe I expect too much of people) that in this age of instant information, they would be arrogant enough to continue to pull a product that is registered, albeit with a slightly different name than what appears on the label. I'm referring to Duvel of course. Beer lovers across the state are reading about this absurdity. People are going to lose jobs when it is all said and done.

Maybe the governor figured out that the PLCB costs more money than they can generate for the state, and it is really HIS plan to make them look like bumbling idiots so they can be shut down.

As I stated earlier, if the responsibility is on the bar owner to prove that the beer being served is registered, then there is no logical reason that a bar owner should be forced to purchase their beer through a distributor. I still think beer stores and six-pack shops are a good thing, and I suspect that most bar owners will continue to use a distributor even if these laws are changed just for convenience. But hopefully, bar owners will be able to circumvent a distributor and purchase directly from a brewery for specialty products in the near future as a result of all this.

By the way, these are all state laws, not Philadelphia laws. How long before Duvel (and others) are yanked off the shelves throughout the state? I guess I'll be brewing a Belgian Golden Strong soon