Pennsylvania Sheetz stores selling canned cocktails under new law
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Nearly 300 Sheetz stores in Pennsylvania are now selling canned cocktails after a new law went into effect.
The gas station/convenience store chain will sell ready-to-drink cocktails like High Noon and Surfside after Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a bill into law expanding where those beverages can be sold.
Under old state laws, cocktails containing spirits like vodka, gin and tequila could only be sold at state-run Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores. Last month, businesses like beer distributors, bars, gas stations and grocery stores could begin applying for permits to sell canned cocktails.
Sheetz says, effective immediately, more than 280 locations will be selling the drinks. Sheetz already sells beer and wine, and it was allowed to sell hard seltzers like White Claw and Truly because they were made with alcohol from fermented sugar, which isn't a true spirit.
The law allows permittees to sell spirits-based drinks ranging in ABV from 0.5% to 12.5% in cans up to 16 ounces. A maximum of 192 ounces of product will be able to be sold per transaction — that equates to a 12-pack of 16-ounce cans.
New legislation that also went into effect earlier this month allows bars and restaurants to extend the amount of time that they can offer happy hours, bumping it from 14 to 24 hours per week.
Sheetz was founded in 1952 in Altoona and has since grown to operate more than 700 stores with over 25,000 employees. When alcohol sales were expanded to Pennsylvania gas stations in 2016, Sheetz became the first convenience store in the state to sell wine.