Ready-to-Drink Cocktails Bill Signed into Law

Ready To Drink

PA distillers can sell packaged cocktails to licensees with RTDC permits.

Act 86 of 2024

Governor Josh Shapiro signed legislation expanding RTD sales throughout PA.

Starting 9/17/24

More than 11,000 licensees are now eligible to sell RTDs.

Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey
Pennsylvania Made

Ready to Drink, Ready to Sell

Pennsylvania Distillers can already sell ready-to-drink cocktails directly to consumers and to bars, restaurants, hotels, wineries and breweries.
With the passing of Act 86 of 2024, PA distillers will also be able to sell to licensees who hold a RTDC permit. In turn, those permit holders can sell directly to consumers to go.
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Licensees Can Get RTDC Permit

$ 0 Million+

In RTDs sold by PLCB in 1st half of 2024

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Guild members offer RTD cocktails for sale

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Beer Distributors can apply for RTDC Permit

History

Pennsylvania has a uniquely strong and historically grounded claim to rye whiskey as a defining agricultural, economic, and cultural product. Designating Rye Whiskey as the Commonwealth’s official state spirit would honor Pennsylvania’s heritage while delivering real and measurable benefits to farmers, producers, and the state’s tourism economy.

Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American rye whiskey. Long before the Revolution, German and Scots Irish farmers settled across the state, planting rye because it thrived in local soil and climate. Distilling rye into whiskey became both an agricultural necessity and an economic stabilizer, especially in frontier communities where whiskey often functioned as currency. Pennsylvania’s rye industry played a central role in the Whiskey Rebellion, the first major test of federal authority, which shows the spirit’s significance in early American identity.

Why buy from a Pennsylvania distillery?

  • For products not carried by the PLCB nor “substantially similar” to products carried by the PLCB, the distillery sets the price.
  • Pennsylvania distilleries do not have to charge sales tax to RTDC permit holders
  • Pennsylvania distilleries can deliver to licensees.
  • Buying from a Pennsylvania distiller keeps money in the local economy.
  • Your local distributor is also a customer, a neighbor, a community employer.
Herman Mihalich, PADG Treasurer

Fast Facts For Guild Members

  • Pre-mixed drinks made from distilled liquor and other non-alcoholic liquids, packaged in original containers.
  • Not exceeding 16-ounces.
  • Less than 12.5% ABV.
  • Sales of RTDs “to-go” to consumers only.
  • Purchase of RTDs from the PLCB.
  • Purchase of RTDs from Pennsylvania distillers.
  • A restaurant or hotel licensee may sell up to 192 ounces of RTDC in a
    single sale.
  • A distributor or importing distributor with a RTDC permit may sell
    RTDC in any quantity, and all sales must be in original containers.
  • RTD Permit Holders cannot sell a “private label product” — a product
    “made under contract by a manufacturer… for the exclusive right of
    the retailer.”
  • Products larger than 16-ounces or higher in alcohol by 12.5% ABV.
  • RTDC permit holders cannot resell to restaurants or other licensees,
    even if they also have a RTDC permit.
  • Restaurant licensees
  • Hotel Licensees
  • Distributors
  • Importing Distributors

There is a $2,500 application fee for the RTDC permit and an annual renewal fee of 2% of the cost of RTDC purchased for off-premises consumption, whether purchased from the PLCB or a licensed Pennsylvania manufacturer.

Pennsylvania manufacturers do not have to charge sales tax to RTDC permit holders for resale to customers for off premise consumption if the RTDC Permit Holder supplies the manufacturer with an executed exemption certificate at the time of purchase or within 60 days thereafter. Learn more.

PADG is ready to Drink

Tap the brand logos below to find out more about these Pennsylvania Distillers Guild members offering ready-to-drink cocktails.