Beer case before Pa. Supreme Court

From Mirror staff, wire reports
The state Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that will determine the future of beer sales at convenience stores and supermarkets.

“I couldn’t even venture a guess as to the outcome,” Sheetz Inc. vice president and general counsel Michael Cortez said.

Ohio Springs Inc. — a Sheetz subsidiary — holds the eating place malt license for the Sheetz convenience store/restaurant on Pleasant Valley Boulevard. The Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania sued the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board over issuing the license.

At issue is whether eating place malt licensees are required to sell beer for on-site consumption. The association said Sheetz should not be allowed to sell takeout beer unless it also sells beer for on-premises consumption.

Sheetz is willing to serve beer in the Altoona store if that is required, Ohio Springs attorney Stanley Wolowski told the justices. A lawyer for Wegmans, which was not a party to the Sheetz case, but is pursuing a similar license, also signaled a willingness.

‘‘The [liquor board] authorized venues to sell beer that the Legislature never intended,’’ Robert Hoffman, attorney for the distributors’ group, told the justices.

Currently, about 500 delicatessens and similar establishments hold beer-only licenses like the one granted to Sheetz, allowing them to sell six-packs and serve beer. Takeout customers can buy the equivalent of two six-packs of 16-ounce cans at the businesses.

Some justices debated the merits of allowing alcoholic beverages to be sold by businesses that not so long ago were not even considered.

When Justice Seamus McCaffery called the Sheetz store ‘‘a gas station,’’ Justice Debra Todd asserted that it is more than that.

‘‘They sell creme brulee,’’ she said.