Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette photos Mary Margaret Beyer, left, of Ohio Township and Vicki Callender of West Deer select their brews at 3 Sons Dogs & Suds in Pine. Click photo for larger image.

Pennsylvania is infamous for making consumers buy beer by the case. Not six but 24. No mixing brands. And, until recently, never on Sunday.

Unless of course you buy not from a beer distributor, but from a bar. A bar legally may sell you a six-pack or two (not three), but it's usually for a higher price than you'd pay at a convenience or grocery store in a normal state.

A third option is becoming more available to Western Pennsylvanians: Six-pack shops, where you can shop for not only a six- or 12-pack but also -- brace yourselves -- individual bottles. Even -- and this is really racy -- mixed packs, increasingly from vast selections of brands.

At 3 Sons Dogs & Suds on Route 19 in Pine, a "hot dog shoppe and six-pack store" that opened at the end of in May, beer fans can choose from more than 420 different brews. Individual bottles and cans are priced according to colored stickers and displayed in a bank of coolers with more mainstream six-packs. Shelves hold more six-packs and other special packages Pennsylvania shoppers don't usually see, such as gift boxes.

From 6 to 8 p.m. each Thursday, the store offers free samplings of different brands. You actually can try before you buy.

Not all the beers were a hit during a tasting at 3 Sons Dogs and Suds as evidenced by Susanne Brady's expression. She poured a sample back into the cup of her husband, Jack Brady of Wexford. Click photo for larger image.

"I keep asking, 'Is this legal?' " says Jack Brady, as he and his wife, Susanne, sip their way through "In-Heat Wheat" and other brews of Denver's Flying Dog Brewery during a recent sampling. It's crowded with beer geeks, young professionals, even mothers with children in tow, and feels like a party as they enjoy the beer, the cheese tray and each other.

The Bradys used to live in Denver and, before that, California, and they have traveled to other places where such open beer love is practiced. They love being able to shop this way. As he puts it, "I feel like I'm on vacation!"

And he doesn't have to worry about being busted by Liquor Control Enforcement agents, as six-pack and bottle shops are perfectly legal. Three Sons and similar establishments in this region operate on what the state calls "eating place retail dispenser" licenses, or E licenses. Like more common restaurant, or R, licenses, these enable eateries to sell less-than-case quantities of beer to go.

The E license allows an eatery with at least 300 square feet of space and seating for 30 to sell up to 192 ounces of malt beverages only (no wine or liquor as is allowed with R licenses).

Better marketing, more selection

The E license isn't new. Nor are six-pack shops. What is new is how more entrepreneurs are using E and R licenses to open retail businesses that broaden Pittsburghers' access to many more and better beers to go.

	Bartender Shawn Conway pours out samples during a beer-tasting at 3 Sons Dogs & Suds. Click photo for larger image.

Bill Sukitch, who named 3 Sons in honor of his boys, is a veteran of the beer business who saw how well six-pack shops did in the eastern part of the state, where they're still more common.

Not having to buy an entire case is only part of the appeal, Mr. Sukitch says, because most of his customers also like to be able to experiment with this huge variety of craft brews. Most brands can be mixed in six-packs that cost $8.99, $10.99 or $12.99. Or you can take home a single bottle. Or drink it right there.

Vicki Callender, a craft beer aficionado from West Deer who recently discovered 3 Sons, loves the concept. "Why would you buy $35 worth of beer you don't like?"

Part of Mr. Sukitch's business plan was to cater to women. "Most women don't like to go into a bar" to buy beer to go, he explained. "They want to go into a nice, clean place."

This new wave in beer retailing is being driven by consumers, says Tony Knipling, a salesman with Vecenie Distributing Co. in Millvale. Its Web site, www.beersince1933.com, lists better beer retailers, including what he says is a "growing list" of 20 six-pack shops, including longtime landmarks such as Kazansky's Deli in Squirrel Hill.

While domestic beer sales have been flat, craft beer sales continue to climb, he points out. "It's all about experimenting."

Another new place is The Beer Store, just across from Robert Morris University in Moon, that opened in April in the space above the Trivia Pub, with which it shares an R liquor license.

Beer Store proprietor Frank Cullen says people who discover his 400-plus brews "say phrases like 'being in a candy store.' They can't believe the selection. Sometimes it'll take 'em a half hour just to pick out six beers."

Mary Kane brought her son, Noah, 2, to last month's beer- tasting. Click photo for larger image.

One of his inspirations was D's SixPax & Dogz, which opened on an E license in Regent Square at the end of 1999 and has since done a booming business in good beer and good hot dogs.

In fact, the neighborhood hangout is expanding into the space next door, which will soon open with a walk-in self-serve, six-pack cooler, even self-serve draft beer.

Also expanding is the Pittsburgh Bottleshop Cafe in Collier, which opened in April 2004, and offers some 250 beers. Owner Mark Davis says it's exceeded his volume and profit goals by more than 300 percent. But more people than he expected pick their bottles from the coolers and drink them there, so he's creating a new dining room that should open later this month.

Fat Head's Saloon on the South Side got into the good-beer-to-go act a year ago when it opened the "1807 Beer Union Six Pack Shop" upstairs. Owner Glen Benigni says people are still discovering it. "It makes it even more of a unique place when you a have a six-pack shop right inside." Customers use custom cardboard holders to make up from more than 200 brands their own pack for $14.95 (the second is $9.95).

Four six-packs would mean $50 for a case worth. Six-pack shop prices still generally are higher than by the case. But customers don't have to shell out as much money at one time.

Chuck Mohan, who in April opened a six-pack shop next to his venerable Mohan's Restaurant and Lounge in Penn Hills, says he's upped his volume and lowered his prices on takeout beer, so, "You're paying almost the same price as if you went into the grocery stores in Ohio." He also sells a wide range of shrink-wrapped custom gift packs. "We can't keep them in stock."

What about beer distributors?

Pennsylvania beer distributors aren't just sitting idly by. Having won the right to be open on Sundays starting in September, they continue to seek the OK to sell 12-packs. Tavern owners, who opposed Sunday sales, also have opposed this change.

"It's just so antiquated. We have a license to sell beer. We should be able to sell beer in 12 packs," says Dino DeFlavio, who runs McBroom distributor in Regent Square and whose parents own D's in the next block.

Mary Lou Hogan, executive secretary and counsel for the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania, says the group will push for that legislation starting in January.

Meanwhile, the distributors association still is fighting a controversial application by the Sheetz convenience store chain to begin selling beer at a new superstore in Altoona using an E license.

Ms. Hogan says the group is not against six-pack shops per se, but it has issues with a Sheetz selling beer because it also sells gasoline and nonfood products. She says E licenses were not intended for this kind of business.

Some distributors are getting creative, displaying bottles for customers to look at and read. Sudsy's Beer Store in Bridgeville offers tastings from 4 to 6 p.m. each Friday. But they still have to sell you an entire case.

Not distributors or bars, six-pack shops are filling a niche that's somewhere in between, says John Cirillo. He owns the busy Gorillo's Six Pack Shop in Butler, which he describes as "like a convenience store that has all beer." Actually, it also offers food -- pizza and snacks -- as it must. "These laws are real gray," he says. Still, "There's nothing dirty and seedy about [selling six-packs]. It's only common sense."

And it's what consumers want, says Mark Stunja. He took over a bar on South Main Street in Greensburg and on Sept. 1 turned it into Dawg's Bottle Shoppe, where he's gradually expanding the craft and import selection. He has plans to hold samplings and talks, and current renovations are to include a special "tasting room," stocked with beer magazines, where aficionados can sit and savor the good stuff.

"We're taking it to the next level," he says. "It's trying to put some fun back into the industry."