Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The old saying may be at its most poignant when it comes to procuring intoxicants. And for the ancient human tradition of drinking alcohol, that will and way have joined forces to provide an iconic vignette of subversive subculture: the cross-border booze run.
Whether facing high taxes, overly aggressive regulation, or outright prohibition, folks within close proximity of certain borders can buy their beverages of choice at discount pricing on the other side of the fence. These gray and black markets fuel an economy unto itself, with businesses and customary practices unique to each environment.
And for some locales, the booze run has become a local institution.
The American Interstate Bootleg Tradition
Long gone is the era of besuited gangsters, Tommy guns, and the glory days of moonshiners, but the American bootlegging tradition lives on in the guise of state-line runs for personal consumption. Residents in several states like Utah — notorious for its archaic liquor laws — have runs to border booze outlet havens such as West Wendover, Nev.
But in the aggressively irreverent city of Philadelphia, it’s become a way of life.
The state’s Liquor Control Board, along with its “State Stores” monopoly system for spirits (now rebranded as “Fine Wine & Good Spirits” stores) has been a point of contention in Pennsylvania since the agency’s inception at the end of Prohibition. And when the Keystone State completely shuttered its stores during Covid lockdowns, Pennsylvanians — especially those close to borders
