ALLENTOWN - Last week in the state Capitol, Republicans and Democrats toasted passage of a bill that would let beer distributors sell six-packs and single bottles as evidence lawmakers finally are loosening Pennsylvania's restrictive Prohibition-era alcohol laws.

But in a small northern Northampton County borough, businessman Casey Kopko cringed, fearing that a little-known provision - which has nothing to do with six-packs but has everything to do with the big business of beer - could ruin his family's 70-year-old retail distributing company, Cascario's Beer, Soda & Ice of Pen Argyl."If this bill is signed, Cascario's will go under in a matter of months, putting me and my employees out of work," Kopko said.Kopko's concern - shared by other small distributors - centers around a Prohibition-era law that deals with where and how brewers can sell beer in Pennsylvania.Since the 1930s, brewers - from MillerCoors to Yuengling to Victory Brewing - can enter into private contracts with large wholesale beer distributors. The contracts give wholesalers exclusive territorial rights to where brewers' brands can be sold geographically to small licensed retail distributors, six-pack stores, bars and restaurants. State law says the contracts are in perpetuity.Territories can cover one county, multiple counties or the entire state. Small retail distributors are required to buy products from wholesalers in their region, but there is no provision against their reselling a wholesaler's product in another wholesaler's territory.The 54-page House Bill 1196 would change that.All businesses in the beer-selling food chain would be subject to the private territorial agreements between large wholesalers and brewers.Retail distributors would be prohibited from buying from one wholesaler and selling to a bar or restaurants in another wholesaler's territory.A retail distributor who breaks the law would not be penalized, but the bar or restaurant that accepted the retailer's out-of-territory product risks being closed for 30 days by the state.The change may not have much impact on retail distributors located where territorial agreements run wide. But the change could have a huge impact on retail distributors - like Cascario's - near a municipal or county line that doubles as the dividing line between competing wholesalers and their respective brewer contracts.The provision was inserted into the bill to prevent Target, Walmart, Walgreens and other corporations from buying a small beer distributor and using it to truck product across the state, said Chris Hoel, a Pittsburgh lawyer who specializes in alcohol law and represents small Allegheny County distributors concerned about the bill.The unintended consequences are going to be trouble in cities and suburbs too, he said.In Pittsburgh and its suburbs, Hoel said, wholesale territorial lines change by the block or neighborhood. He foresees confusion among distributors and their retail customers."The unintended consequences are going to affect hundreds of businesses," Hoel said.Back in the Lehigh Valley, Cascario's is required by law to buy all its products from wholesalers licensed to distribute in Northampton County.For example, Cascario's has to buy from Reading wholesaler All Star Distributing, which is a subsidiary of a larger Philadelphia wholesaler and holds territorial rights in the Lehigh Valley for some of the country's biggest brands, including MillerCoors.But half of Cascario's business deliveries are to bars and restaurants in Monroe County, where other wholesalers hold territorial rights. For example, LT Verrastro near Scranton has the territorial rights to MillerCoors in the coal region and the Poconos.The legislation provides Cascario's no option of negotiating with wholesalers or brewers, meaning an end to cross-border sales started by Kopko's great-grandfather."I estimate this new law will cut my business by at least half by prohibiting me from delivering many of my products to Monroe County," he said.The intent of the bill was to help beer distributors by allowing them to sell six-packs, said Wolf's spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, not to prevent anyone from doing business.The administration is not sure the change would hurt Kopko's business as he fears, Sheridan said, before referring other questions to the state Liquor Control Board, which licenses retail and wholesale distributors.Kopko is right, according to the LCB and one of the state's top alcohol lawyers.If the governor signs the bill, retail distributors and all licensed establishments will have to abide by the same territorial rules dictated in the private wholesaler-brewer agreements, LCB spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said.Ted Zeller, an Allentown lawyer for the Brewers of Pennsylvania, a trade and lobbying group, said Kopko and other distributors in rural areas will be forbidden from providing a needed service.Rural retail distributors make deliveries to small businesses that large wholesalers have refused to make because it is cost-prohibitive for them to deliver fewer than 20 cases at a time, he said."If he's right on the territorial line, he's restricted," Zeller said.Frank Pistella, owner of a Pittsburgh retail distributor and president of the retail group's lobbying arm, Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania, said the bill needs to be remedied to help Kopko's business."This was not the intent of the bill," Pistella said.Jay Wiederhold, president of the Pennsylvania Beer Alliance, the wholesale distributors' lobbying group, which pushed for the provision, said the bill is needed to strengthen the tiered brewer-to-wholesaler-to-retail system. The tiered system, he said, has allowed small breweries to thrive and not be driven out of the market by larger national brands, he said. It also has allowed for quicker recalls for safety reasons, he said."The problem we've had in Pennsylvania for a while is when we have a retail distributor taking from one area and driving it into another wholesaler's area," Wiederhold said. "There's no transparency, no ability to track that product."The wholesale component of the bill is not a big deal to the majority of retail distributors, said Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks, who spearheaded the bill's passage. The wholesale provision is intended to stop retailers from buying beer cheaper from one wholesaler and reselling it at a higher price in a region where a wholesaler's prices may be higher.Kopko is only complaining about the new rule, McIlhinney said, because he will no longer be able to "cherry-pick" business from Monroe County distributors who purchase from the proper wholesalers."He's crossing territory in a predatory way to steal business from people in another county that can't compete," he said.McIlhinney's cherry-picking accusation is "completely false," Kopko said."We have never in our history gone into another account we didn't have and solicit business," he said.But Kopko said that if a Monroe County business is not satisfied with its existing wholesaler, it should have the right to call his store to make a quick delivery, and the Legislature should not penalize those private business decisions."My great-grandfather was delivering up there in the mid-50s," Kopko said.If Wolf signs the bill, the law would go into effect in 60 days.