Pennsylvania Grants Nearly $800,000 To Promote Beer Tourism And Brewing

Pennsylvania’s craft brewing industry received an early Christmas present this week thanks to special state grants that where doled out to promote beer tourism in the state and to explore better ways “to grow beer’s vital key ingredients.”

According to the Morning Call, the holiday beer grants were actually the result of a tax windfall, the result of “a 2016 law that loosened the state’s system of alcohol sales.”

The 2016 law altered the structure of Pennsylvania’s Prohibition-era laws and expanded places where Pennsylvanians could purchase beer and wine.

At that time the state’s House Republican majority wanted to completely sell off the state’s wholesale and retail alcohol network operated by the Liquor Control Board.

Governor Wolf and the GOP-controlled Senate wanted to preserve LCB’s exclusive domain over spirits, while permitting LCB to modernize and allowing other outlets sell more wine and beer.

The final bill that was signed into law in June of that year was a bit of a compromise.

It allowed supermarkets to sell wine. And “restaurants and gasoline retailers that serve prepared food and already have liquor licenses allowing them to sell take-out beer.”

The 2016 Bill ended up creating more places to buy beer in Pennsylvania while expanding the hours state-run liquor stores are open.

And not surprisingly the expansion of places where consumers can purchase beer and wine in the state, led to greater sales and increased tax revenue.

And now the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has tapped into some of that tax largesse and is using it to promote the state’s beer industry.

According to the Morning Call the grants went to promote beer tourism, develop effective beer advertising campaigns and explore better ways to grow beer’s vital key ingredients in Pennsylvania.

And here are this week’s recipients…

$125,000 — Visit Philadelphia tourism outfit to “market and promote greater Philadelphia’s craft beer and breweries.”

$105,000 — Somerset County Chamber of Commerce to create the Pennsylvania Craft Brew Festival, modeled after a regional wine festival, at Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

$227,919 — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences to help farmers market their crops to breweries and vice versa, study the ingredients of gluten-free beer, and promoting the concept of germinating barley to increase production.

$72,500 — California University of Pennsylvania to create a hops yard and study how to make the crop more sustainable in Washington County.

$71,701 — Shippensburg University to start a job-training program to teach students how to work in the craft beer industry.

$59,700 — National Beer Museum Development Group to make a stand-alone display touting “The Story of Beer in Pennsylvania” in Pittsburgh.

$50,000 — Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation to “enhance promotion of the existing Cumberland Valley Beer Trail through new photography, videography and marketing campaigns.