Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) today announced it won the StateWays magazine 2025 Best Practices Award for Retail Innovation for its launch of Distilled Digest, a biweekly internal bulletin designed to streamline and modernize communication with employees — specifically, managers in 575 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores across the state.
In presenting the award, StateWays recognized the PLCB because Distilled Digest “reduced message fatigue, boosted engagement and helped Retail Operations strengthen its connection with thousands of frontline team members” while supporting “a faster, more-focused and more-empowered retail environment.”
“Before Distilled Digest, stores received a high volume of unprioritized point-of-sale messages — sometimes urgent, often overwhelming and rarely contextualized. This fragmented approach made it difficult for store leaders to identify what was most important or time-sensitive from a daily operations standpoint,” the article recognizing the winners noted. “Recognizing the need to reduce information overload and improve operational alignment, the PLCB developed Distilled Digest as a single, centralized communication tool tailored to the needs of frontline retail employees.”
StateWays, the only national magazine devoted to the issues and subjects affecting control state systems, established its Control State Best Practices Awards in 2015 to recognize control state agencies that are leading the industry in innovation, education, and enforcement. This year’s winners are featured in the Fall 2025 issue.
In 2016, the PLCB was named Overall Winner in that year’s StateWays Control States Best Practices Awards, an honor that recognized Pennsylvania as a leader in the beverage alcohol industry for its innovations in retail, wholesale operations, alcohol education, technology, and regulatory affairs. In 2021, the PLCB won Best Distribution Innovation for its expanded distribution center in Philadelphia. The PLCB has also been the recipient of StateWays Best Practices Awards for Technology Innovation, Stakeholder Outreach, Warehouse Innovation, and Trade/Licensee Education Program.
The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates about 575 wine and spirits stores statewide, and licenses more than 20,000 alcohol producers, retailers, and handlers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups, and licensees. Taxes and store profits – totaling nearly $21.1 billion since the agency’s inception – are returned to Pennsylvania’s General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania’s schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies, and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit pa.gov/lcb.
MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn M. Kelly, 717.303.8522
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