The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) is giving businesses across the state another shot at securing coveted liquor licenses — often referred to as “zombie licenses.”

PLCB Opens Bidding on 25 Expired Pennsylvania Liquor Licenses

Yesterday, August 7th, bidding officially opened for the 14th auction since the passage of Act 39, the 2016 law that dramatically reshaped liquor sales in Pennsylvania. Among its many provisions, Act 39 created a way for the state to reissue expired or unused restaurant liquor licenses, which previously would have simply disappeared from circulation.

Where Are the Available Licenses?

This round includes 25 restaurant liquor licenses — one for each of the following counties:

• Adams

• Allegheny

• Armstrong

• Bedford

• Berks

• Bucks

• Cambria

• Carbon

• Clearfield

• Crawford

• Delaware

• Erie

• Greene

• Juniata

• Lawrence

• Lackawanna

• Lehigh

• Luzerne

• Northampton

• Northumberland

• Pike

• Schuylkill

• Somerset

• Sullivan

• Wyoming

Each license comes with a minimum bid of $25,000, and as in previous auctions, the highest bidder in each county will win the rights to apply for the license.

How the Auction Works

• Sealed bids must be submitted by noon on October 6th.

• The PLCB will open bids on October 9th, announcing winners shortly after.

• Successful bidders then have six months to apply for their license.

• Payment must be received within two weeks of the award, or the opportunity passes to the second-highest bidder.

Past Bidding Heavyweights

In previous auctions, major players such as Giant Food Stores, Weis Markets, Sheetz, and Rutter’s Farm Stores have secured licenses — often paying well above the minimum to gain entry into select counties where licenses are scarce.

Before Act 39, the state had no system to re-sell licenses lost due to enforcement actions, financial failures, or other circumstances — meaning roughly 70 licenses “died” each year. Now, these auctions offer new opportunities for restaurants, grocery stores, and other hospitality businesses to expand.

How to Bid

The Invitation for Bids and full details can be found on the PLCB’s official website. Once there, scroll down to “Related Solicitation Files” to view the necessary documents.

Potential bidders with questions must email RA-LBLicenseAuction@pa.gov no later than noon on August 28th.

This PLCB license auction could be a game-changer for businesses looking to expand alcohol sales in high-demand Pennsylvania markets. With some counties historically seeing fierce competition — and licenses going for well above the $25,000 minimum — the next two months could prove pivotal for bidders hoping to tap into new markets.

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The Grand Opening

Its finally here! Tomorrow is the full, true, grand opening for LoveDraft’s Brewing Company! We’ve talked before on the blog of their soft opening, and their continued soft opening, and their “no kids allowed” policy, and all the media and attention, and controversy that has ensued because of that. But, now its time to talk about their full grand opening.

We first broke the news that the Harrisburg downtown bar – JB LoveDraft’s Micropub – was going to be getting their own brewery back in October 20220. “Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?” And now its time for that realization to happen.

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Its time to get ready Mechanicsburg, because LoveDraft’s is going to be a lot different than a normal bar and a normal brewery on your block. Just take a look at their social media presence and you’ll understand.

Recently, LoveDraft’s got some nation wide attention with their “no kids allowed” policy post, which you can read about here: “NO KIDS ALLOWED“. They followed this all up with a list of their in-house rules, some of which are: everyone must be 21+, no politics, no religion, no sports, no wearing certain colors, be accepting of all people, and finally and most importantly “HAIL CTHULU.”

They are going into the old Quakerstate Lube off the Carlisle Pike. The address for the LoveDraft’s Brewery is 165 Gateway Drive, Mechanicsburg, PA.

The head brewer for LoveDraft’s will be Terry Hawbaker. The award winning former brewer for Pizza Boy. If you are from the Central PA area, you are most likely familiar with his work and his beers, and I’m sure you will be loving the beers he gets to make at LoveDraft’s.

The Venue

The venue is designed to be very similar to their bar in Harrisburg. They will be a big music presence in the area, and are working with the former production and agents from the Chameleon Club to book talents for their stage. Along with their rules policy, they will have a very eclectic and loud brand of music playing, with a much more adult theme to it than most other breweries and bars, especially in the area.

Their kitchen is going to be “Smokehouse” themed, ran by ShakeDown BBQ. They will specialize in BBQ, vegan and meat, and similar cuisine. Their Facebook page (under the MENU tab) currently has a code reader to let you see their full menu.

Grand Opening

The grand opening party / event kicks off at 5PM – tomorrow – August 7th, 2021. You can find their Facebook event page here: LoveDraft’s Grand Opening. It is looking to be a banger of a party!

Social Media Links and other Links

You can follow LoveDraft’s on the following social media outlets:

• LoveDraft’s Brewing Co. Facebook
• LoveDraft’s Instagram
• LoveDraft’s Website

Relevant LoveDraft Links:

• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery? (October 2020)
• NO KIDS ALLOWED – LoveDraft’s Brewery (August 2021)

Nearby breweries:

• Visiting Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• Wolf Brewery Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• Highway Manor Brewery Opening (Camp Hill)
• Highway Manor Brewery Review (Camp Hill)
• Beer Review – EverGrain Brewery (Mechanicsburg)

Can’t wait to get to see you guys out there at LoveDraft’s, listening to some killer tunes, eating amazing grub, and washing it down with Terry’s fantastic beers. Cheers all and Hail Cthulu!

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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