Alcohol remains available at Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe, despite venue operators having put its liquor license in escrow last week.

"We can't charge for alcohol, so we've been giving it away, but asking for donations," said Dan Hugos, executive producer at the opera house."Right now, we're putting the cap at two drinks. It is an option that we wanted to give to people coming to our shows."JTAMS Inc., operators of the opera house, voluntarily turned in its liquor license for "safekeeping" with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in the wake of continued complaints from neighbors about the noise level during shows.Earlier this summer, JTAMS agreed to take certain soundproofing measures at the opera house, but Hugos said this week some of the items "take a great deal of time and money to complete.""We are going to work with the neighbors to come up with a solution that works for everyone and we want to do it as quickly as possible," Hugos said.When the liquor license was active, Hugos said, alcohol sales varied from show to show. A jam band attracting a younger crowd would naturally bring in higher revenues, he said."We benefit from alcohol sales, but not as much as you would think," Hugos said. "There is an extra insurance cost involved and the liquor license in itself is expensive."There is no fixed price for a liquor license in Pennsylvania. Depending on location and the type of license, licenses have been sold from $5,000 to $400,000, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor License Exchange. Renewal fees can cost up to $700 annually."We'd like to have the license back and the ability to charge $4 or $5 for a drink, but the gain we see from sales is incremental," Hugos said.In the meantime, the opera house will rely on donations."Some people are donating, but a lot don't," Hugos said."There is nothing we can do to force them to pay."