Hard liquor to join wine in Pennsylvania grocery kiosks

(Reuters) - For the first time since the end of prohibition in 1933, Pennsylvanians will soon be able to buy spirits in a place other than a state-run liquor store.

Kiosks in supermarkets, which currently sell wine, also will be stocked with hard liquor, Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the state Liquor Control Board, said on Tuesday.

Starting on a small scale within the next two months, liquor will initially be available in only about a third of the 32 groceries that have kiosks.

Since last June, some 69,000 wine bottles have been sold that way.

At the unmanned vending stations, customers are required to display proof that they are over the legal drinking age of 21, which is checked by a state agent using the closed circuit camera.

Customers must take a breathalyzer test at the kiosk, and are denied the sale if they blow more than a .02 alcohol level, significantly below the legal driving limit of .08.

The breathalyzer is not used at the 618 state liquor and wine stores.

The state's liquor monopoly has been under fire since Republicans took control of both houses of the legislature and the governor's office in the 2010 elections.

Witalec, however, said there was no correlation between the move to sell liquor in kiosks and proposals to privatize the liquor sales system.