Posted on 03/08/2010 11:00:41 AM PST by bamahead
IT WAS ELIOT NESS and the Untouchables, as played by the Keystone Kops.
More than a dozen armed State Police officers conducted simultaneous raids last week on three popular Philadelphia bars known for their wide beer selections. The cops confiscated hundreds of bottles of expensive ales and lagers, now in State Police custody at an undisclosed location.
The alleged offense: Although the bar owners had bought the beer legally from licensed Pennsylvania distributors and had paid all the necessary taxes, the police claimed that nobody had registered the precise names of the beers with the state Liquor Control Board - a process that requires the brewers or their importers to pay a $75 registration fee for each product they want to sell in Pennsylvania.
Based on a complaint from someone the State Police refuse to identify, three teams of officers converged last Thursday on the three bars, run by Leigh Maida and her husband, Brendan Hartranft. Checking their inventories against the state's official list of more than 2,800 brands, the cops seized four kegs and 317 bottles, totaling 60.9 gallons of beer, according to police calculations.
In fact, according to Maida, more than half the beer removed by the State Police was properly registered - but the cops couldn't find it on their lists because of "clerical errors" or "blatant ineptitude" between the police and the Liquor Control Board, with whom the officers were conferring by telephone.
She estimated the total value of the confiscated stock at $7,200, representing about 20 brands, some of which go by multiple names.
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.
But that wasn't enough to keep the State Police from confiscating 20 bottles and three kegs of the supposedly illegal ale at the three bars run by Maida and Hartranft - Resurrection Ale House, at 2425 Grays Ferry Ave.; Local 44, at 44th and Spruce streets, in West Philadelphia; and Memphis Taproom, 2331 E. Cumberland St., Port Richmond.
Maida said that the State Police also confiscated bottles of Duvel, a popular ale imported from Belgium that is widely advertised and available in at least 200 bars throughout the city and suburbs. The beer appears on the PLCB list as "Duvel Beer," while its label reads "Duvel Belgian Golden Ale."
"No actual investigating was done," Maida said in an e-mail to the Daily News. "The police sent a shoddily typed list to the PLCB, some drone fed it into the machine verbatim and returned what came back, without . . . even trying to offer us the benefit of the doubt by double-checking on some of the so-called unregistered beers."
While acknowledging that it appears that some of the confiscated brands had not been properly registered, Maida said that about half appeared on the state's registration list in some form.
"My main beef with this whole convoluted situation is that the PLCB is the sole regulator of a set of products that they do not even know the names of," she said.
State Police Sgt. William N. La Torre, commanding officer of the Philadelphia office of the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, said that he was not aware of any beers that had been mistakenly confiscated.
La Torre said that the beer would be kept in a secured location, as evidence, until the case is resolved, probably in six to eight months. If an administrative-law judge finds that the bars possessed unregistered brands, the State Police typically would seek a forfeiture order to destroy the beer, he said. Depending on the temperature of the storage location, some of the beer will likely turn sour in that period.
Maida said that the couple's attorney had told them that they have until 6 p.m. tonight to compile evidence to prove that the confiscated beer is properly registered.
"The onus is on us to prove our innocence," she said.
She added: "It's McCarthy-like. They swarm in here and confiscate this product because they don't know what the product is."
La Torre noted that Resurrection had been warned last year when it served an unregistered beer from Maryland - Resurrection Ale, made by Brewer's Art, in Baltimore. Maida acknowledged that violation - the beer had been a gift in honor of their new business, she said, but the resulting citation made the couple extra-careful about compliance with the Liquor Board's rules, she said.
La Torre said that the investigation was sparked by "a citizen complaint."
"It doesn't matter where the complaint is coming from," he said. "If there is merit to the complaint, we have to follow through with it. . . . We received a complaint regarding the licensee bringing in unregistered beers and we confirmed with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that certain brands were not registered."
Francesca Chapman, a PLCB spokeswoman, said that the registration requirement helps the state assure payment of state beer taxes and helps prosecutors identify alcoholic beverages in drunk-driving cases or any other type of prosecution.
Industry sources complain that brand registration is typical of the onerous regulations that make selling beer in Pennsylvania difficult. For example, while it is the responsibility of the brewer or importer to submit the necessary paperwork and registration fee, it is the tavern or restaurant licensee who may be liable for selling unregistered brands, they said.
Registration is further complicated by the growth of under-the-radar one-offs: unique, limited-production, highly sought-after draft beers that appear briefly - perhaps as quickly as an hour - on tavern taps. While they pay the necessary state and federal taxes, breweries sometimes do not bother to register the brands because they are produced in extremely small amounts.
Among the brands that the State Police reportedly sought during its raid was Pliny the Younger, recently named the No. 1 beer in the world by Beer Advocate, a popular online beer-rating site. The ale is made once a year by Russian River Brewing, in California.
Last month, about a dozen small kegs of the beer arrived in Philadelphia amid much hoopla. Several taverns, including the three operated by Maida and Hartranft, advertised specials for as much as $25 a glass.
In most cases, the kegs kicked in less than an hour.
Although it had been registered for sale in the past, Pliny the Younger currently does not appear on the state's list of registered brands.
In an e-mail to the Daily News, Russian River owner Vinnie Cilurzo wrote: "It was a simple mistake on our part that we forgot to register some brands with the state of PA. We are a small mom and pop brewery and every once in a while something slips through the cracks."
But apparently not just small breweries have failed to register brands. Heineken-owned Hacker-Pschorr, one of the largest breweries in Munich, does not appear on Pennsylvania's registration list, though it is widely sold throughout the state.
The government did not get rid of the Mafia, they just replaced it with themselves.
If that is their main worry, they are in the WRONG line of work.
Nobody FORCES them to become police officers.
They are nothing more, and nothing less than FELLOW CITIZENS, entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing the law.
If this prospect frightens them, they should go into a different line of work.
Yes, they went home to their families, after STEALING ~$7000 worth of another private citizen's property, over a procedural error on THEIR part. But at least they were 'safe'.
I guess from now on you’ll take that little “Union Made” symbol on the can seriously....
I can’t believe people put up with this procedural crap, from Big Brother!
About as long as it would take a dozen or so of 'em to "Kevlar up", don their "Raid Jackets", load their guns, and convoy to your house.
Do you still have to buy a license to buy/consume beer and other alcohol?..............
Obama now owns Anheiseur Busch? Who new?!!!
Just imagine what Sam Adams is doing!
Never heard of that one, that must LONG predate any drinking I've done in PA :)
Amendment VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of Counsel for his defence.
The informer is 'bearing witness' to the act that is resulting in criminal prosecution [or is the police seizure/arrest not part of prosecution? It has to be that apprehension _is_ part of the prosecution.]; that the 'witness' against them is not [yet] in a court of law is irrelevant.
In most states, you need some sort of documentation (usually government issued, state or federal, and at a fee) that shows you are age-eligible to purchase & consume alcohol so...the answer to your question is yes!
In 1974, a when I was in the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune, NC, I drove a friend of mine up to Scranton to see his girlfriend one weekend. While they were doing whatever, I went to a local bar to while away some time. When I asked for a beer, the bar tender asked for my “ABC Card”. I told him in my deep Southern accent that I was from Florida and in the USMC and didn’t know what in heck he was talking about. They served me anyway..............
I think the whole incident is wrong, but I don’t think this would fall under that statute. I’m sure you sign some sort of waiver when you get a liquor license that allows this sort of raid. Additionally, now that the raid has taken place, the “witness” or “accuser” is now the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, not the informant.
In 1974, they asked me for an “ABC Card” which I assume was some sort of license to drink...........
Why do I suspect that somebody didn’t make the right contributions to the Dem party bosses?
I am not a lawyer, or a Constitutional scholar, but is it possible to sign away your rights? I know that the govt does infringe, but doing so and having it stand up under appeal should be totally different. As in a "statute of limitations" to collect a debt. The state of WA has found that you waive that "right" in child support cases. Funny how millions of illegals steal identities, suck off of the system, but there is NO FORIVENESS for child support, parking/speeding tickets.
I had no idea! I can’t even find anything about that policy on Google.
that is alcohol abuse!
Yes, in PA it is like that.
In 1974, they asked me for an “ABC Card” which I assume was some sort of license to drink.....
In the 60’s and 70’s the LCB did issue their own ID cards. Technically they could ask you to produce one when you went to buy liquor, and did not have to sell to you if you didn’t have it. They went away after PA started putting photos on drivers licenses in the late 70’s.
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