Price increase on wine and spirits coming soon in Pennsylvania

Apr 15, 2023

Your favorite bottle of wine or liquor may cost you more in Pennsylvania — and soon.

With 10 days’ notice, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Thursday announced a 4% price increase on about 3,550 popular wine and spirit items, sending restaurant owners scrambling to order additional supplies of such popular labels as Ketel One and Captain Morgan before Jan. 15.

Retail customers at the state's Fine Wines & Good Spirits stores will also see the increase that day. The prices of special-order products, seasonal items, and clearance items will not be affected, the PLCB said.

The increase will tack 80 cents onto that 750ml bottle of Fireball that now retails for $18.99, for example. Even those shot-size bottles that retail for 99 cents will rise to $1.03, plus sales tax.

Pennsylvania's liquor ecosystem — including sales and marketing brand representatives, distributors, and restaurant and bar owners — apparently was caught flat-footed by the news. Typically, they get more notice of price increases, which usually take effect at the beginning of a month, when it's easier to budget.

Asked about the timing, a PLCB spokesperson said: "The items and implementation plan were just finalized in recent days."

Nearly 400 items on sale during January will remain on sale through the end of the month, and then will be subject to the price increase, the PLCB said.

Spokesperson Shawn Kelly said the board had resisted raising prices beyond vendor cost increases since 2019 despite cost increases related to the pandemic and inflation.

In a statement, the board said: "These increases will allow the PLCB to generate revenues needed to offset annual 8% increases in operating costs over the last four years, plus projected cost increases in the current year, related to personnel, distribution, leases, and credit card fees, among others."

In its most recent annual report, the PLCB reported nearly $331 million in net income on sales of $2.4 billion in 2021-22.

Dave Magrogan, owner of the Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bars, called the PLCB's price increase "ridiculous" and "greedy." He said the PLCB's profit margins are set higher than other liquor retailers’ and that the state's retail sales system suffers from inefficiency.

Magrogan and other restaurant owners interviewed Friday said they did not expect to raise their drink prices, at least initially. Teddy Sourias, who owns a collection of popular Center City bars including Tradesman's and Finn McCool's, said "it would be hard to justify" charging customers more. "We obviously are not happy with the increase and it came out of nowhere with short notice," he said.

Not that Pennsylvania drinkers are the only ones sharing the burden of inflation. Drivers are, too. The state also raised turnpike tolls and gas taxes this year.

The list of the affected wine and spirit items is here.