Beaver Borough Council disapproves of beer sales in ‘dry town'

BEAVER, Pa. — After a long history of being a “dry town,” officials in Beaver decided Tuesday night to keep it that way despite a brewery and restaurant’s partnership in alcohol sales.

There are municipalities in nearly every Pennsylvania county that are listed as “dry,” In Beaver County alone, nine boroughs and nine townships are listed as dry.

Until last month, no businesses in Beaver Borough sold alcohol by the glass, but that changed when Waffles INCaffeinated started selling beer from Beaver Brewing Company three nights a week.

Waffles INCaffeinated is able to sell beer by the glass because of a state law that went into effect in 2015. The law states that breweries in Pennsylvania can have up to two satellite locations to sell its beer only, and they’re not subject to wet/dry restrictions.

That left the town of Beaver in a unique situation, and borough officials said not everyone is happy about Waffles INCaffeinated’s business. In response, Council President Michael Deelo said the Liquor Control Board asked the borough to weigh in on the situation.

“There’s a vocal group of people who are opposed to beer sales. There are also a number of people who are quite interested and see nothing wrong with it and would encourage beer sales,” Deelo said.

The owners of Beaver Brewing Co. and Waffles INCaffeinated said they’ve put a lot of restrictions on themselves in how they sell beer in Beaver and making sure they follow the law.

“You can have brewery storage locations in dry towns. I’m not looking to transform the town of Beaver,” said Dan Woodske, owner of Beaver Brewing Co.

The resolution passed 8-1 Tuesday night, meaning the council disapproved of the sale of beer by Beaver Brewing Co. and Waffles INCaffeinated.

Deelo said the results of the vote will be forwarded to the Liquor Control Board, and the board will have to decide what to do next.

Cox Media Group