With Coors, Miller and Anheuser-Busch now all owned by foreign conglomorates, asks Travis Daub, what’s a patriotic beer-drinker to do?
Answer: Drink PBR. Sort of.
Believe it or not, Pabst Brewing Company is now the largest American-owned brewer. But Pabst doesn’t even brew its own beer anymore. All 29 Pabst beers, from Schlitz, to Lone Star to […]

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Occasionally a good idea, or was before I got so old.
In any event, I must take issue, as I always do, with the Era when it editorializes about beer sales:
Today we quote the president of the PA Malt Beverage Association, who says hey - you, Joe Consumer, already have plenty of convenience when it comes to […]

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Now it’s driving up the price of beer:
biofuel subsidies that are pushing more farmers to ditch their barley crops—which are necessary to make beer*—in favor of crops that earn them lucrative subsidies from regulators trying to fight global warming. Topping the list of these subsidized crops are rapeseed and corn, ingredient which are used in […]

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For years now there have been rumors circulating that Wegman’s is interested in a spot in Lancaster County, and why not. Economically this may be one of the most dynamic communities in the commonwealth; there’s money to be made here (which is why all those other national retailers keep coming). Though I’ve also been told […]

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Post-Gazette reporting that there will be public hearings in Pennsylvania this summer on the prospect of privatizing state stores:
Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery, introduced the privatization bill this month, arguing that the state should not be in the liquor business. In the bill’s current form, about two-thirds of the 623 state stores would be sold to […]

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s got a very interesting series going on Pennsylvania’s liquor control system - its benefits and (mostly) drawbacks. Among other things, it examines the strange way in which the LCB can decide where to locate a state store - helps, apparently, to be in with Gov. Ed.
And then there’s this:
Also this month, the PLCB reached preliminary […]

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So I’m down talking to Bob Dano yesterday, owner of Engleside Beverage Mart, about this and that, and he raises a point I hadn’t ever considered - but one I find absolutely stunning.
Did you know, and I didn’t, that there is no state liquor store anywhere between the North Queen street store and the Maryland […]

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New Era lands on my desk, with this story below the fold:
Want a beer with your pot pie?
The story talks about how the Lyndon City Diner now is seeking a liquor license - because, as the owner says, he’s losing businesses to restaurants that serve beer and wine. The same is true of several other […]

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I await, now, the inevitable outcry over how the fact that Isaac’s desire to serve liquor at its North Queen Street location will destroy the moral fabric of our community.
And I love the insinuation that a restaurant can’t be “family friendly” if it dares to serve liquor. You know, it ain’t like drunks are lying on the floor […]

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Hmmm. Stanton Peele notes in the Wall Street Journal that while there’s this wave of states looking to hold parents responsible for their kids’ drinking, recent research suggests that maybe letting the kid have an occasional glass of wine at home might actually be a good thing:
Several studies have shown that the younger kids are […]

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Call this one step up, half a step back.
As detailed in this morning’s Intelligencer Journal, a Washington County Democratic state legislator has proposed a bill that would permit wine sales in farmer’s markets. But then you read that at least two prominent local wineries, Mount Hope and Nissley, probably wouldn’t do so - because an […]

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