Looked to see if this had been and did not see it.
He looks happy in the photo the authorities are handing out.
So if you live in PA and post on the commerce corner you’re breaking the law?
sold rare wines - all unavailable from the state-owned liquor monopoly -from his home in Malvern without a liquor license, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and is also > accused of procuring the wine from a source other than a Pennsylvania liquor store> .
If this doesn’t point out how absolutely f-ing absurd the wine laws are, I have no idea what would.
Posting is fine Brig…as long as you don’t buy or sell…or so it’s my understanding.
This guy was clearly running a retail wine sales business out of his house…and not just a “hey I’ll pick up a bottle or two for my buddy while I’m out shopping” deal. My understanding is that he was doing it from NJ until he recently moved to Malvern. Bad move.
The authorities draw the line extremely tightly on what sort of wine commerce is allowed. By the books, everything needs to come from PLCB…except for the Granholm loophole, with direct winery shipping still technically illegal in PA but they simply choose not to enforce it. Retail shipments = verbotten, despite not being uncommon. They tried to squeeze UPS, Fedx, etc., until that angle got thrown out (or so it’s my understanding). There are allegedly even restrictions for transporting cellars in to PA. They’ve been easy on enforcement for several years, which could change at the drop of a hat. The nastiness comes and goes and the PLCB lives on, in all its glory, despite any and all efforts to kill it.
RT
Is there any state in the US where it is legal for a person without a license to sell wine to another person without a license?
The PLCB will go to extreme lengths to preserve their Johnstown Flood taxes.
Sting operation…undercover would be purchaser…but it probably cost more to
handle the sting than any taxes recovered. True, they confiscated the wine, so it could
show up some time as The Chairman’s Secret Cellar Wines.
What next? Hmmm. Inspectors lurking on Commerce Corner posing as potential purchasers?
Boggles the mind… ![[oops.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/1/1f129ddad071ffe5db6c99817c3cab666035a70a.gif "oops"){kind=small}
Hank ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Sadly Hank, it’s definitely possible.
As much as I can’t stand PLCB, the Johnstown Tax and all the other related nonsense, it certainly sounds like this guy was breaking the law on a whole different scale than your average CCer.
Off topic…I walked in to the local PLCB specialty branch Saturday AM for the first time in a while. I was targeting a couple of bottles…and might’ve even splurged for a case worth total. There in big bold letters…CASH ONLY - NO CREDIT CARDS, NO DEBIT CARDS, NO GIFT CARDS. Apparently their phone lines were down…3rd time in a week, according to the clerk. Didn’t seem to bother any of the other retailers in the strip shopping center. Wonder how much $ volume they lost that day…and who if anyone actually cared, besides the inconvenienced customers.
RT
John, speaking of “looking happy”, I’ve always wondered what you’re doing in your photo? Is that even you doing it?
?
this is such an amazing story. i mean, isn’t this exactly what the mafia does? control a business in a territory and then make sure that no one competes with it?
Swirling my 22 oz. stem, of course.
Indeed, and be careful. I mean…
State police seized 2,426 bottles of wine, a computer, a flash drive and numerous documents
Who among us doesn’t have that laying around the house. 
Larry, you might be surprised.
My point exactly!
Today’s Eric LeVine Award goes to . . . .
LOL
I should ask this on a separate thread, but since the PA folks are reading it’s not a bad time to ask.
Will PLCB ship out of state?
It seems like a dumb question, but it works sort of like that in Texas (retailers will ship across state lines folks but can’t import), and the shipping matrix at fedex.com shows that they will deliver from PA to other states. Odd eh?
An apt comparison, I think.
No, in-state only. If you’re close to the state line you could have it sent to the nearest store for pick up.
Oh, my good ole fascist home state at its best…
No problems defending the Constitution and its amendments when it comes to alcohol but as far as the 1st, 2nd and 4th ones go… meh…