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Comment by Crito | Hacker News Reader

> Can't buy it at the grocery store either.

In Pennsylvania, some grocery stores get around this ban (which includes liquor and wine anywhere other than state stores, and beer in stores that are not exclusively beer distributors) by creating a small building within their store that operates somewhat separately as a "cafe" or restaurant, which are allowed to sell alcohol (since they also serve food).

For example, the "Whole Foods Market Devon-Mile Post Pub" (http://www.beermenus.com/places/2550-whole-foods-market-devo...) is basically a garden shed with a walkin refrigerator that is inside of the Whole Foods. While it can sell beer, the enclosing Whole Foods cannot.

Really a ridiculous system. If pot legalization progresses as alcohol legalization did/continues to, then we have a long road ahead of us.

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Ironically, Colorado has alcohol laws that are even more bizarre than that. Until 2008, it was illegal to sell alcohol on Sundays. To this day, no corporate entity may own more than a single liquor store, and no grocery stores may sell anything other than 3.2% beer.

So, Whole Foods, Costco, and, more recently, Trader Joe's, each have a single location in Colorado that has an attached (but separate) liquor store. The other locations are not allowed to sell anything but 3.2% beer.

That is pretty bizarre--though I don't know if I'm ready to concede that it's more bizarre than Pennsylvania. Until recently you couldn't buy liquor or wine (but beer was okay, for some reason) on Sundays in Pennslvania unless you were being served in a restaurant. For a real spectacle of oddity you need to see the bottle shop dance[1] that I describe in another comment.

I don't think I've ever seen a beer with an ABV above 1% and below 4%. What kinds/brands of beer are these?

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7613369

Bud light and other light beers tend to land in 3.2% territory, I think. And some brands specifically make 3.2 beer catering to the PA market (it may not even be available in your area if your state doesn't have weird restrictions around 3.2%, like PA or UT).

Light beers are usually higher than 4%. Bud Light is 4.2%

[1] http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/1320/

EDIT: Ah, here's the confusion. I'm pretty sure the 3.2% is ABW instead of the usual ABV. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-alcohol_beer#Categories

You're right, I looked up Bud Light and it was 4.2 and I was confused :/.

Not sure on if 3.2 and ABW applies in all 3.2 states. My only knowledge of this comes from my ~75 year old uncle, who told me that you used to be able to buy 3.2 beer when you were 18 (depending on the state; he was probably in CA or WA).

I don't drink anymore, but when I did, it was all craft / microbrews, which are typically 5-7% ABV ;). The lowest I've seen is 4.7% (Founder's All Day IPA, a session IPA). And some of the DIPAs and Imperial stouts and wild ales / Belgian trippels/quads go to 8-12% ABV.

Ridiculous? Pshaw! Obviously we'll just have a pot shack inside of the booze shack inside of the Whole Foods.

All kidding aside I find the PA alcohol laws just ridiculous.

If I'm planning a party and want a few bottles of wine, a quarter keg of something simple, and a few six packs of something more interesting I have to go to three different stores--and at the last store I can only buy 192 ounces per purchase[1].

All of this insanity because of historical inertia and conclusions drawn from correlation confused for causation. How shocking that the Delaware Total Wine[2] parking lots are regularly packed with PA license plates.

[1] For those who haven't encountered this it's quite a sight. If I go to a bottle shop to buy two 12 packs I have to buy one 12 pack, walk it outside the door to the store, put it down, come back in, and buy the second 12 pack. However, if I go to a distributor I cannot buy a single 12 pack but I can buy 100 cases (24 packs) as easily 1 case.

[2] Total Wine sells beer, liquor, wine, and related supplies in a store the size of a supermarket.

Pretty wild to think we are really still recovering from prohibition isn't it?

Many countries in North Europe share the same "ridiculous" limitations. For example, in Finland only state-owner Alko can sell liquor and it doesn't work on sundays.

(And they didn't have prohibition so it's not prohibition legacy)

The reason for this is limiting alchohol impact on citizenry without limiting citizens' rights. Alchohol in colder/continental climates is a scary thing enough for general public to support this arrangement.

Finland had prohibition from 1919 to 1932, when the state alcohol monopoly was created after a referendum, according to the internets, anyways.

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