The state liquor control board is rebutting claims by a popular Adams County bar and grill that claimed the bar’s liquor license was recently suspended over the 2020 mask mandates.
Bourbon Mill, located on U.S. Route 30 in Oxford Township, announced in a Jan. 2, 2025 Facebook post that the bar’s liquor license had been suspended for 45 days, beginning on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025 and ending Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025.
“The reason for this suspension is due to COVID mask violations from 2020 and 2021,” the business claimed in the post, which is no longer available on Facebook.
The business had briefly closed on Dec. 22, 2023, and reopened days later on Jan. 3, 2024.
In a now-unavailable post shared by the Bourbon Mill on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, the business claims that it was being suspended due to COVID violations.
In response to that post, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) told the Evening Sun that the case against Bourbon Mill was more complicated than the business had claimed, and that the suspension came as a result of multiple citations issued by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement (BLCE).
“It is important to note that only some of the citations were COVID-related, others were not – for example selling alcohol after revocation of a health permit, selling liquor to go, and failing to have an approved manager for the licensed premises,” the statement shared.
In court documents provided by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, on Jan. 10, 2023 an administrative law judge (ALJ) ordered the 45-day suspension and a $5,700 fine against the business after reviewing the case, which was in the form of joint stipulations of facts between BLCE and the licensee, in place of holding a hearing.
The business then appealed that judge’s ruling to the three-member PLCB on Jan. 20, 2023, which issued a board opinion that affirmed the judge’s decision in February of 2024. While the multiple citations listed 45 days worth of suspensions, the business did not serve them while it was appealing the decision.
The Bourbon Mill is seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in New Oxford.
“The underlying facts are not in dispute. Licensee and the Bureau agreed to a series of stipulated facts,” the opinion states.
“Licensee did not offer argument against the charges in these violations on appeal and in fact stipulated to facts that provided substantial evidence for the ALJ to sustain these charges,” the opinion continued.
While the post stated that Bourbon Mill was advised of the suspension just days before it became active on Jan. 8, 2025, the board stated that the Bourbon Mill’s owner, Chuck Messersmith, was notified of the suspension dates on Dec. 6, 2024.
Documents outline citations
In that board opinion, the documents outline the eight counts charged in the citations against the business.
The first two citations issued by state police date to Sept. 17, 2020, and Jan. 14, 2021, when officers issued citations that each resulted in a $1,000 fine over failure to follow COVID-19 health mandates. The first offense resulted in a five-day suspension, and the second offense resulted in a 10-day suspension, according to the documents.
On April 8, 2021, officers issued another citation, with one count of selling liquor to go, one count for failure to follow COVID-19 mandates, and two counts related to the hour of sales of alcohol, one after 11 p.m. and one after midnight, during restrictions on operating hours. That citation resulted in a fine of $2,350, and a 20-day suspension.
In that citation, according to the documents, the business acknowledged in the stipulation of facts that an undercover state police BLCE officer had approached the bar on Jan. 9, 2021, and ordered a shot of rum to go. The officer then paid $5 for the shot, which was placed into a plastic cup with a lid, and departed the business.
Then, on Sept. 30, 2021, officers issued a fourth citation, alleging that the bar sold alcohol after having its health permit revoked between March 1 and May 30, 2021. The citation also alleged that the bar had operated without a manager from Jan. 8, 2020, through Sept. 1, 2021. That citation resulted in a $1,350 fine and a 10-day suspension, the documents said.
That citation was issued after another undercover state police BLCE officer visited the business on June 1, 2021, and observed patrons being served while a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture closure notice was posted on the register advising that the health permit had been revoked.
On July 22, 2021, during a routine inspection officers spoke with Messersmith, who “acknowledged that Licensee’s health permit had been revoked from March 1 through May 30, 2021 and that Licensee had been open and operating the entire time,” the documents state.
At the same inspection, officers learned that the board-approved manager for the location, Kelly Leese, had not been working as a manager since March 17, 2020. While investigating this claim, officers were provided with Leese’s schedule, which showed she only worked twice a week as a bartender, the documents state.
“There was no indication that Ms. Leese was considered a manager since the establishment opened,” the board opinion notes.
While speaking with Messersmith, he told officers that Leese and he had switched locations that they managed, with Messersmith claiming he was managing Bourbon Mill while Leese managed Messersmith’s Hanover location, the Bourbon Grill.
In another interview in 2021, an employee at the Bourbon Grill stated to investigators that Leese was an occasional weekend bartender there, that another employee was acting as a manager, and that Messersmith had not been at the business in some time due to being “preoccupied with a building across the street.”
When officers presented Messersmith with that information, Messersmith claimed that “he was managingall the locations and was unable to find a manager,” the documents state.
Officers then spoke with Leese, who confirmed in a written statement that she “never had any managerial duties,” according to the records.
Lengthy record of citations led to conditional licensing
While the business chose to appeal the four citations that resulted in the suspension, the incidents were not the first run-in with law enforcement for Messersmith’s businesses, which was noted in a dispute over the renewal of the business’ liquor license.
In letters dated 2022 and 2023, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s bureau of licensing objected to a renewal of the license for the Bourbon Mill, in which an appeal by Messersmith resulted in a Sept. 30, 2024, conditional licensing agreement signed by both Messersmith and the liquor control board’s director.
In that agreement, the board states that objections to renewal were due in part to Messersmith’s lengthy history of citations, stating that “Chuck W. Messersmith, Sole Member, and Pamela Jones, Manager, are not responsible persons of good repute and/or have become persons of ill repute.”
In settling the appeal, the board opted to enter into a conditional agreement with Messersmith, which would allow the business to keep its license if it agreed to certain conditions.
“Bourbon acknowledges that its application for renewal of the license is being considered for approval only as a result of its willingness to abide by all the terms of this Agreement,” the agreement states.
The conditions of that agreement required that, within 90 days, the business must become compliant to new employee orientation procedures, training for alcohol service personnel, training for management and ownership, displaying proper signage for alcohol service sales, and certification of compliance from the Bureau of Alcohol Education.
Records for the Bourbon Mill show additional citations for having a manager listed in 2018 that was also spending 40 hours a week running a grocery store, refusal to provide records to state police enforcement officers, failure to maintain records of the operation of the business for two years, failure to return a license to the state after the business had not been in operation for over 15 days, failure to have a manager complete RAMP training within 180 days, selling alcohol to a visibly intoxicated individual, brewing alcoholic beverages without a brewery license, and selling alcoholic beverages that were brewed without a brewery license.
Liquor license records for Messersmith’s former Hanover location showed six citations between 2013 and 2023 that resulted in $6,050 fines.
Those citations included allowing smoking where smoking was not permitted, selling alcoholic beverages after expiration of the location’s hotel liquor license, operating gambling devices without permits, failure to pay $33,494.59 in sales tax, engaging in taxable sales without a tax license, hosting live music without an entertainment permit, having a full-time manager listed who was employed by a different business at the same time, failure to have service persons complete RAMP training within six months, and the sales of alcoholic beverages brewed without a valid brewery license.
Liquor Control Board statement
“The suspension Bourbon Mill is set to serve is a result of citations by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement (BLCE), the entity responsible for enforcement of liquor laws in Pennsylvania. It is important to note that only some of the citations were COVID-related, others were not – for example selling alcohol after revocation of a health permit, selling liquor to go, and failing to have an approved manager for the licensed premises.
An administrative law judge (ALJ) reviewed the BLCE citations and the licensee’s acknowledgement of the violations (via joint stipulations of facts between BLCE and the licensee in lieu of a hearing), then ordered the licensee to pay a $5,700 fine and serve a 45-day suspension, given the extent of the violations. Although the licensee appealed that decision, the penalties were upheld by the PLCB’s three-member Board, which can only overturn ALJ decisions under limited circumstances, including error of law, abuse of discretion, or findings not supported by substantial evidence.
The ALJ notified the licensee of the suspension dates on Dec. 6, 2024.
Although the citations were from 2020 and 2021, resulting suspensions can be delayed by ALJ review, appeals, and other factors.
The PLCB understands the COVID pandemic was an unprecedented time for businesses that faced challenges to stay afloat. Most of the 16,000 retail liquor licensees in Pennsylvania abided by the emergency orders, risking their businesses, in order to comply with the rules to protect public health and safety. Relatively few chose to ignore the rules for their own benefit, and the penalties imposed through the citation process are the consequences of their actions. Additionally, BLCE began COVID enforcement with warnings to establishments before issuing citations, thereby giving businesses fair and reasonable opportunity to come into compliance.
The PLCB also assisted businesses throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, waiving and suspending license fees, allowing the sale of beer and wine to go while on-premises service was suspended, easing safekeeping requirements, expediting Responsible Alcohol Management Program certification to enable businesses to obtain wine expanded permits, refunding event permit fees, allowing distilleries to produce and sell hand sanitizer, relaxing requirements for beer line cleaning, and accelerating the approval process for outdoor extensions of licensed premises.”
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board statement
Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for the Evening Sun. Reach him at hjones@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: Bourbon Mill liquor license suspended for COVID, other violations