Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) may have been the first consumer denied an alcoholic beverage under a new state law expanding access to canned cocktails.
Shapiro, in a celebratory appearance at a Rutter’s convenience store in Central Pennsylvania, had hoped to buy some Philadelphia-based Surfside tea and vodka.
But the 51-year-old Democrat ended up demonstrating that even the governor can’t buy booze without proper identification.
Video and photos from the appearance show his security detail had to make the purchase for him.
Previously, Pennsylvania convenience stores and grocery stores could not sell ready-to-drink beverages under a Prohibition-era law that mandated hard liquor be sold through state-run stores. Local stores could only sell beer and wine.
The new law is limited to 16-ounce drinks, and stores must apply for new permits to sell them.
The governor used the occasion to call for legalizing weed in the state as well.
“There are Pennsylvanians who may be traveling out of state to purchase cannabis, and that’s, I think, something that we want to be focused on doing here in our commonwealth,” he said.
Shapiro signed the bipartisan liquor legislation expanding the sale of canned drinks up to 12.5 percent ABV into law earlier this year. It extends to restaurants, hotels and other outlets that may sell beverages to be consumed off premises.
“This is what real freedom looks like, and we did it in a way that protects taxpayers and supports our state workers,” Shapiro said in an August statement on the law.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have for years sought to loosen the state’s grip on alcohol sales, noting they have been some of the strictest in the country.
Then-Gov. Tom Wolf (D) vetoed a bill in 2015 that would have privatized the state’s liquor system.
