Gov. Tom Wolf: “Free the Six-pack” in Gas Stations

Six pack photo by Alan Levine, used under a Creative Commons license

You soon might be able to buy gasoline and beer at the same location — though not at the same time.

In a letter to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board titled “Free the Six-pack,” Gov. Tom Wolf asks the PLCB to allow gas stations to sell six packs of beer at attached convenience stores. The liquor code currently forbids the LCB from approving any new licenses “where the sale of liquid fuels or oil is conducted.”

But, Wolf writes, the LCB should approve 12 such gas station licenses to sell up to 192 ounces of “malt or brewed beverages.” Though the law says the board should not approve such licenses, Wolf says a recent court case has reversed one item in the liquor code:

A recent Commonwealth Court ruling affirmed PLCB’s interpretation of this provision to permit the sale of malt and brewed beverages on the same property as liquid fuels, as long as points of sale are appropriately separated. The Court’s ruling in Water Street Beverage, Ltd. v. PLCB affirmed PLCB’s decision to approve a license for Weis Café, when Weis had gas pumps on the same property as the proposed Café. The Court’s decision sets important precedent that both clarifies this provision of the Liquor Code and allows for the sale of malt or brewed beverages at gas stations and other businesses under appropriate circumstances.

Wolf argues gas stations can sell beer, as long as they use a separate store section and cash register to ring up those purchases. The 12 licenses are up for approval at the May 25th PLCB meeting.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.