Why Its Not Safe To Go Into The Woods - A PLCB Horror Story

Not satisfied that their stupid laws, random enforcement, idiotic "interpretations," and never being checked for underage sales are killing enough citizens, the PLCB figures that having more stores open with longer hours for the start of hunting season fits their goal of  "...an exercise of the police power of the Commonwealth for the protection of the public welfare, health, peace and morals of the people of the Commonwealth...:

So while DUI, Underage DUI, DUI Fatalities, Underage DUI Fatalities, Binge Drinking, and Underage Binge Drinking is worse in PA than most of the border states, apparently drinking, driving to game lands, and hunting is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged by the PLCB.

They are getting sneaky about it too. In my first blast at this insane policy in 2013 they put out a separate announcement stating that these stores would be open early just for hunting season.  I'd link to it but the PLCB no longer  has it listed. In 2014 they combined it with the Thanksgiving holiday extended hour increases as shown here. Now they are trying to just outright hide the fact they are expanding store hours for hunting season by not listing it at all.  When you look at this year's announcement there is no mention of  Holidays or Hunting Season. All you get now is a flat "The following stores will have extended store hours in late November." However, if you look at the stores that are open or have extended hours on November 30th it is only because of hunting season.

So if you find yourself in the woods on November 30th, remember that the PLCB did their best to make sure all those people with guns were able to get liquor. I wonder how many cows would survive if they didn't ?

What the PLCB thinks

What the PLCB thinks the consumer sees

While the consumer really sees is this:

What the PLCB thinks of their apron specialists:

What the public really thinks:

What the PLCB thinks of their customer service:

What the consumer thinks of their customer service:

What the PLCB thinks is a "superstore"

 What the rest of the country KNOWS is a superstore:

What the PLCB thinks of their business:

 What their business really does:

The PLCB does nothing for the state. We are not safer, we are not better served and we are not satisfied.

One picture says it all

All you need to know about how the people feel about liquor privatization. (click the pic)

Wine spectator's Top 10 - Or The PA Wine Desert Pt. 3

Time once again to see how the PLCB with all their highly trained wine people did compared to some folks who really are highly trained. The Wine Spectator Top 10 is coming out. As they count down, I'll be checking to see if PA somehow managed to luck out and actually have some of these wines available.

Let's finish the top 10:

# 6. Bodegas Aalto Ribera del Duero 2012, 2400 cases
NOT AVAILABLE IN PA

# 5.Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains 2012 1986 cases
SLO ONLY CASE OF 12 (Oh, the PLCB price is 11.5% higher than list price too)

 

# 4.Il Poggione, Brunello di Montalcino 2010 18,000 cases
Currently available in 21 state stores

# 3.Evening Land Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Seven Springs Vineyard La Source 2012 1176 cases
NOT AVAILABLE IN PA

# 2. Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2012 4125 cases
Currently available in 9 state stores, PLCB price 41% ABOVE list of $140!

# 1.Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis 2012 1785 cases
NOT AVAILABLE IN PA

So there you are, the PLCB stocks 2 of the top 10 if you want to pay a 40% premium for one of them and they say they can get another provided you want to buy a case and pay 11% more than list.

The question isn't if you can find any or all of these wines in one store. The question is can you find them in entire states and the answer is of course, yes.  In places that have to live by their knowledge of not only wines but of their clientèle there are a number of stores where more than 2 of the top ten can be found and states where they ALL can be found.

Until next time, I'll see you out of state.

Wolf's Privatization Plan

"The state would still be running the system, but they would be leasing it out, That is privatization.” Jeffrey Sheridan, Governor Wolf’s press secretary.

Hired by the government, paid by the government, given offices by the government, but "that is privatization"? Wolfonomics is spreading! Now there are two people who are completely ignorant of economics over the past 200 years. Goes with the "Competition raises prices"  mantra the Governor tried to use when he vetoed the privatization bill.

This is the Wolf system in a nutshell:

A PLCB Mystery - The Case (or Ten) Of The Missing Four Roses

Ever watchful, our intrepid sleuth is always on the lookout for ways the PLCB pays lip service to taking care of the citizens. 

On August 21st, Four Roses sent out a press release listing what this year's Four Roses Limited  Edition Small Batch will be, and more importantly, how MANY they planned to make. There was to be a release of about 12,600 bottles total. From what I have learned over the years, about 80% stay in the U.S., and the remainder are for the rest of the world. Can I prove it? No, allocation is a very closely-held card by the distillers and distributors, since there is always somebody who will take issue with it. Needless to say, like any other business, good customers usually will do better than ones that are more difficult (I bet you can see where this is going).

So about 10,000 bottles of this year's Limited Edition were destined for U.S. customers. Dividing up by state would yield 200 bottles per state. Great for North Dakota and Rhode Island; not so good for the rest of us. Allocating by population is a more fair way to guess, and with 4% of the U.S. population, Pennsylvania would get about 400 bottles.

So how many did we actually get? 24 bottles were announced to be sold in a lottery; registration ran from 8 a.m. Oct 26th to 11 p.m. Oct 31st. (No surprise that it didn't actually open until about 8:30 a.m.) But wait!  There's more! Right after the lottery was announced, I wrote a letter to the PLCB asking where all their buying power was and why they had such a poor relationship with the distributor that we got well below what we normally would have. Imagine my surprise when 3 days later, the PLCB announced they had gotten another 42 bottles to raffle off, for a grand total of 66, of which 16 would go to licensees.

No. This is not for you 
silly PA consumer.

Is that fair?  We'll never really know, because we won't know how many bottles the PLCB really had, since they had it listed as an SLO item in August, weeks before the lottery announcement. However, if you called and tried to order it you were told it was a "licensee only" item. So how many were sold to the bars and restaurants the first time, before they got ANOTHER chance? Why did the state get so few to begin with? Is this an indication of what is really thought of the PLCB? Or did the public just get screwed by the PLCB because a normal amount was allocated and they sold it to licensees first?

Also, who is watching all these lotteries?  The PA lottery is certified by outside public firms, the PLCB lottery is...what? I haven't seen or heard about any safeguards in place. Who checks to make sure this is all on the up and up? Are we just supposed to believe them? I'm not saying it isn't legitimate, but I am saying it is hard to believe, when the transparency at this agency is like looking in the Susquehanna after a rainstorm. They certainly haven't done anything to earn my trust so far.

Get rid of the state store system and move Pennsylvania back to normal.



P.S. For those keeping track we reached a small milestone. This is the 400th post of the blog.  It took us seven and a half years to get to this point.  Here is hoping that our job will be done long before we reach 500.

Wine spectator's Top 10 - Or The PA Wine Desert Pt. 2

Time once again to see how the PLCB with all their highly trained wine people did compared to some folks who really are highly trained. The Wine Spectator Top 10 is coming out. As they count down, I'll be checking to see if PA somehow managed to luck out and actually have some of these wines available. Here are the next two,

Let's begin.

# 8. Masi Serègo Alighieri Vaio Armaron 2008, 3750 cases
NOT AVAILABLE IN PA
There is one that is close but it is a Classico Riserva Costasera 2008 and this one is not

# 7. Kupe Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
NOT AVAILABLE IN PA

I've included a picture so if you want to go to New Jersey, New York or DC for the MASI or just New Jersey and New York for the Kupe.


PLCB  ZERO FOR FOUR