There are a lot of regulations and laws in place to govern the production and sale of alcohol, and they're anything but straightforward. Take Aldi. The answer to whether or not Aldi sells alcohol anything but simple, as different states have different laws, and those laws dictate whether or not you can purchase Aldi at the closest location near you.
And when it comes to the law (or specifically state law), there are few states that have more complicated liquor-related legislation than Pennsylvania. In 2024, grocery stores and gas stations in Pennsylvania were given the greenlight to sell ready-to-drink cocktails ..
. until at least 11 p.m.
Eight years prior to this, the state passed Act 39, which changed liquor sales in a big way, like allowing restaurants to sell bottles of wine to go, as well as permitting he sale of wine in grocery stores. Legislation was written and passed in order to solve what had become a major problem: The so-called "border bleed," a term which referred to the frequency in which consumers just went to another state to buy their alcohol, rather than navigating Pennsylvania's complex legislation. So why is Pennsylvania like this in the first place? It goes all the way back to the end of Prohibition and then-Governor Gifford Pinchot.
While many places can celebrate Repeal Day with some Prohibition-era cocktails , Pennsylvania's a little different. After making examples of bootleggers and moonshiners, Pinchot continued his anti-alcohol crusade post-Prohibi.