“The booniest of these boondoggles were the wine kiosks installed in a number of Pennsylvania grocery stores. ….[T]he machines themselves were the real treat. They were essentially giant soda machines with a direct link to agents at the state’s Liquor Control Board. Would-be buyers would would walk up to the kiosks, swipe their drivers’ licenses to prove their age, submit to an examination by LCB officials[!] operating remote cameras, submit to a breathalyzer exam, and then-if the chemistry and the bureaucracy were all satisfied- choose from a selection of wines about the size and quality of that offered in business class on a domestic airline. Strangely, this did not catch on.”
The Kiosks have, inevitably gone the way of that portion of hell that reserves itself to bad ideas made by committees and bureaucrats.
Yet the PLCB remains with us still. If you want wine you must go to the state store. If you want hooch, to the state store you must go. If you want beer you go to the state…no!, you go to a “beer distributor” wherein you may buy a case of beer and no less. If you desire a six pack only, you must go to a bar or similarly licensed establishment. If you wish to purchase a bottle of wine and have it shipped to your house, well, you cannot do that in Pennsylvania.
It is time for Pennsylvania to modernize the archaic and absurd liquor laws in this state.