This line comes to us from that Cinematic blockbuster of a movie that was Revenge of the Nerds II. In an opening scene a few of the young college Nerds head to Florida for Spring Break. One of the youngest members of the group purchases beer with a fake ID only to be busted as he’s heading out the door. For some reason, I can’t seem to shake that scene from the movie.
It could be because my friend Brendan Hartranft (who owns three great beer bars in Philadelphia) was raided by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PCLB) last week. Apparently, the “Fuzz” was working on an “anonymous” tip that his bars Memphis Tap Room, Local 44 and Resurrection were stocked with illegal beers.
What made them illegal? That’s a good question.
Apparently, many of the beers that were deemed illegal were unregistered in the state of Pennsylvania. Essentially, we’re talking about a paper pushing incident. It must have been some sight to see as all three locations were simultaneously “raided” at the same time by officers packing heat.
I got word of this bust on Friday when we landed in Oakland for the Wine Warehouse meeting. Apparently, our beers were part of the contraband seized (it sounds way cooler than it is). It seems that we have neglected to register a couple of our brands and have been “breaking the law…”
So today, I am in registration mode.
It also means that I get to cut a check for $75 per brand of beer for which we’re missing registration.
God, I love a good registration day. NOT!
Hopefully, things for Brendan and Leigh (His wife and business partner) will settle down. It sucks that this happened. They say any press is good press but in this case, I’m inclined to believe that being raided by the PLCB isn’t what most of us would want.
Here’s a link that has many of the bloggers from Pennsylvania discussing what went down. Check out their webpages for detailed accounts.
As for me, I have to go register our beers. I don’t feel the need to be busted anymore for breaking the law.
I can’t believe they (PA) wasted so much money and resources to bust a small business owner for such a minor offense. They confiscated what? Less than $10k of “illegal” beer. I’ll bet they spent way more than that on the “raid”. So much for a free country. I understand blatantly disregarding the law, but from what I understand, a lot of this involved small nomenclature inconsistencies on the state’s behalf.
To quote one article: “For instance, the cops grabbed Monk’s Cafe Sour Flemish Red Ale.
The beer has been sold throughout the state at dozens of restaurants and distributors for the last seven years. The brand appears on the state’s online list as “Monk’s Café Ale.” It’s on tap seven days a week at the Center City bar after which it was named: Monk’s Cafe, at 16th and Spruce streets.”
So because it says “sour Flemish red” on the label, it somehow is not Monk’s Cafe Ale? This makes no sense to me.