Posted on Wed, Mar. 10, 2010
Raid on bars leads to call for hearings on beer laws
By Angela Couloumbis / Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG – A recent state police raid on a trio of popular Philadelphia bars has fermented into a frothy tempest in a beer mug.
It began with raids late last week on three city bars by officers with the state police’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. In all, four officers walked into each of the three establishments and confiscated 300 bottles of beer – as well as three quarter-kegs – because they said the beers had not been registered with the state, as required by the liquor code.
Now, there is an all-out investigation into who knew what about the beers, and whether they were legally being sold.
And politicians in Harrisburg are calling for hearings on whether the state’s beer regulations are antiquated and should simply be struck off the books.
For their part, state police officials yesterday defended the raids on the bars: Local 44, Resurrection Ale House, and the Memphis Taproom.
“We are sworn to enforce the liquor code and its regulations – and there is nothing in the code that says we can pick and choose what we investigate,” said Maj. John Lutz, director of the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement.
Pennsylvania’s liquor code requires all brands of beer to be registered with the state’s Liquor Control Board. The reasons: It allows the state to collect taxes on it, and it helps keep unsafe products from being sold to consumers.
Lutz said the bureau received a complaint that the three bars – owned by Leigh Maida and Brendan Hartranft – were selling brands of beer that had not been registered with the state.
