Pennsylvania has an “open container law” which makes it illegal to walk down the street with an open beer bottle. You can carry a six pack in a bag, but an open bottle is a no-no.
The folks who make Iron City Beer have come out with an aluminum bottle. Sort of a bottle shaped can that is supposed to keep beer colder longer. Cool marketing gimick.
Anyway, if I wash out the bottle and fill it with gatorade, water, or whatever nonalcoholic liquid I desire and then consume it in public…am I violating the law? A bartender I was talking with says yes. ???Anyone know?
I’m quite sure someone will come along with a better answer then this, but you may get in to trouble for carrying something that looks like an alcoholic drink. At least in the sense that it’s supposed to look that way (since you’re carrying it in a beer bottle). The only think I’m basing that on though, is hearing something a while back about if you could get in trouble for selling fake drugs (ie oregano, or baby powder) to an undercover cop since it wasn’t actually drugs. The answer was that you could still get in trouble. Even though you weren’t selling illicit drugs, you were still selling it AS an illicit drug. OTOH, could a 20 year old get in trouble for walking down the street with a slushie in a Margarita glass? Could a bartender get in trouble if he spotted a patron as an underager and sold him NA margaritas?
You’re mixing contexts. You stated yourself that it is an open container law so the specific type of container has no bearing on the subject. An open can or a bottle with a broken seal, even if it has the cap put back on, would likely violate the law. I’d guess your container of gatorade would violate the law as well as it may be based on the fact that the container was sealed and contained beer.
How does the law read? “Walking down the street with an alcoholic beverage in an open container” is quite different from “walking down the street with an open beer bottle.” The first would make it illegal to pour beer in a glass, the second would make it illegal to pour water in a beer bottle and step outside. Is it the content or the container that the law describes? Or both?
Sorry. Everyone calls the law the “open container law”. I do not know the actual wording and had poor luck searching. I have always understood that it was illegal (in PA) to drink alcohol on the street.
Are you sure it’s not a local law, vetbridge? I poked around in the Pennsylvania Statutes (available here) looking for this, but I wasn’t able to find anything. The closest I could find was the law concerning open containers in motor vehicles:
Even here, though, it’s not entirely clear whether vetbridge’s bottle would be illegal or not. However, if it was, then it would also be illegal for you to take your empties to the recycling depot; so I’m guessing not.
Hmmm…fairly certain. Liquor in PA is under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. I have heard of people being detained/questioned/etc on an “open container violation”.
Also, bartenders freak out if someone attempts to walk out with a drink in their hand (for instance if they wanna run out to their car). I have been told that a bar can be cited for an open container violation.
The way I’ve always seen the “open container” laws enforced is that the container is irrelevant. The question is: does the container have alcohol in it?
IANAL, but I don’t think you can get arrested under the “open container” law if the beer bottle contains water. The cops might hassle you for other things, like being a jerk to a cop, but I don’t think they could bust you under the original stop.
In Kansas, a six pack container with fewer than six beers in it is an open container. :eek: Any container with alcohol in it (if you mix up some margaritas to take to a party and put them in a pitcher) can get you fined.
That reminds me of the time I had to spend 10 minutes explaining to my aunt why she can’t drive around with an open container of Khula in the cup holder. “But I’m not drinking it.” Yea, but you have alcohol on your breath and the seal is broken. Think about it :smack:.
PA has always made things such fun. MikeS has a valid cite for 2003. As of 2004, they’ve moved the open container citation to Title 75-the Vehicle Code. With regard to something non-alcoholic in a container originally used for an alcoholic beverage, that is an acceptable defense. You supply the chemist.
Regarding strolling down South Street with a Natty Boh, §5503 (a) A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he: (4) creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.
That statute is sufficiently broad that you can tagged for letting a nasty toot, let alone having an open beer.
I guess she’s getting used to these newfangled concepts. I recall the days when I would keep a cold beer in the car while I was playing golf, and drink it while driving home - legally. I wasn’t drunk, so I wasn’t endangering anyone.
Yep, I remember driving home on a hot August day, stopping for a case of beer, and having the guy behind the counter open two bottles for my ride home! At the time it was just par for the course.
Thanks everyone for the input. Think I’ll stick to lemonade in a styrofoam cup. (And a pint in me back pocket)
I believe there are no statewide “open container laws” in Pennsylvania other than the ones pertaining to vehicles(tour buses and such are exempt). Pitts is where the infamous ones exist, which you’re ticketed at ball games and other sporting events.
Never having been to Pennsylvania, I don’t know the details of the law, but I guess that you would be breaking one unwritten law that applies just about everywhere on the planet - you would be giving the police a chance to consider you a smart arse, and that would get them pissed at you. This is never a good idea. If there are actual “wasting police time” laws in the US, then it goes double.
