Going to college in PA, I quickly learned that you get liquor at a liquor store and you get beer at a beer distributor. This seems obvious, and is true in NY too, but what I needed to learn was that these are the exclusive places to obtain liquor and beer (sort of).
PA has state-run liquor stores. The only place you can buy liquor to go (as opposed to getting a shot in a bar) is at a Wine & Spirits store, all of which are state owned. Beer distributors, on the other hand, are privately owned and are the primary place to obtain beer and malt beverages. This is very different from NY where you can buy beer at grocery stores and gas stations.
At first I didn't like the fact that PA has state stores (liquor stores). But, I grew to love them for the following reasons:
- every Wine & Spirits store has the same prices
- you can check prices and up-to-date store inventory online
- advertised monthly sales in PDF format
Back to beer distributors. Originally, I thought this was the only way to buy beer to go. I later found out that you can also get beer at bars and restaurants. As this became a more and more popular occurrence, I eventually found one very annoying thing with buying beer from a restaurant. You could buy as much beer as you want, but you couldn't walk out with more than two six-packs at a time. This was pretty frustrating and it didn't seem to make any sense to me.
Today I found out why I was never allowed to walk out with more than two six-packs at a time (although I could just walk in and out as many times as I want with two six-packs each time). PA state law mandates that beer distributors cannot sell six-packs or 12-packs, only cases; and bars and restaurants cannot sell cases, only six-packs and 12-packs. This seems like an odd way to control alcohol purchases and consumption, but I guess that's just the way it is...