Purchasing Alcohol! (Bridgeville, Liberty, Bloomfield: tax, restaurants, price)

[Garvdog]

The beer buying scene doesn't seem that bad here to me, at least in the South Hills suburbs. There are several supermarkets that sell six packs/12 packs including microbrews, a few six pack shops, and beer distributors (case only but a bit cheaper). And you can buy a six in a bar but that is $$$. Beer in general is a bit more expensive than other states that aren't under a state monopoly, but its not terrible. I don't know about the city neighborhoods but I would guess the North suburbs are similar.

Now wine and liquor, that's a different story.

[eschaton]

Can I just say for the record it's a shame that Brian & Coopers got drummed out of Friendship. That place was really convenient when I lived on South Negley for two years.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by Garvdog

The beer buying scene doesn't seem that bad here to me, at least in the South Hills suburbs. There are several supermarkets that sell six packs/12 packs including microbrews, a few six pack shops, and beer distributors (case only but a bit cheaper). And you can buy a six in a bar but that is $$$. Beer in general is a bit more expensive than other states that aren't under a state monopoly, but its not terrible. I don't know about the city neighborhoods but I would guess the North suburbs are similar.

Now wine and liquor, that's a different story.

Agree, we're lucky down here with good sixpack stores in Mt. Lebo and Bridgeville, plus Market District and a much higher density of distributors than in the city. As for wine/liquor, at least we have the one superstore on the BP/ML/USC line.

[doo dah]

The IGA in Oakland, 3609 Forbes, has six packs.

[Mr. Mon]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I've also heard good things about Beer Nutz in O'Hara from people I know who live in that area.

Beer Nutz Beer Distributor - O'Hara 1335 Freeport Road Pittsburgh PA (412) 963-6889

They've pretty much given over to being a restaurant/bar these days. Good food and drought choices, but the selection has notably decreased while the prices have increased with both the cases and six packs.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Labatt's is $15 a case at Save Mor. The beer distributor business model isn't threatened by Giant Eagle as far as I can see.

I think the one-stop convenience will likely take some business from the beer distributors, but I agree to really kill them off, you would need to be able to buy cases in grocery stores.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I think the one-stop convenience will likely take some business from the beer distributors, but I agree to really kill them off, you would need to be able to buy cases in grocery stores.

I don't think you need to kill them off. New York operates fine by having sixes available everywhere and cases/kegs available only at distributors.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by sskink

I don't think you need to kill them off. New York operates fine by having sixes available everywhere and cases/kegs available only at distributors.

I was just suggesting what I thought it would take to largely kill off the beer distributors in terms of direct-to-customer sales, not whether or not that would be a good thing.

That said, while "need" would probably be too strong of a word, I don't see a good reason to prohibit people from buying a case at a grocery store, or at stores which also sell wine and spirits, and so forth. And if all that did in fact kill off beer distributors, I don't see that being a notable loss.

[Moby Hick]

In my experience, grocery stores sell mostly 12 packs, at least for cans. The store is set-up to deal with that size because of soda.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

In my experience, grocery stores sell mostly 12 packs, at least for cans. The store is set-up to deal with that size because of soda.

The way I have seen it in grocery stores in other states, cases are usually placed in a center display (the same sort of location they may have pallets of 2L bottles).

I might note it is usually of kinds of beer I would never buy personally, but in those states I was fine with picking up a mix of 6- or 12-packs of stuff I liked instead.