Philadelphia Brewing Company Accepting Bitcoin As Payment

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So you guys have heard of Bitcoin, right? It’s that wholly digital, wildly fluctuating, peer-to-peer crypto-currency that’s been in the news a bunch recently because some big companies (Overstock, Virgin Galactic) have recently said that they’re going to let people pay with it.

Well, now Philly beer nerds who prefer to exist outside the traditional banking system can rejoice because Philadelphia Brewing Company has just announced that they’re going to be the first United States brewery to accept bitcoin as payment for both wholesale and retail purchases. Here’s a piece of their reasoning from the press release:

Philadelphia Brewing Company, which has been brewing and delivering fresh beer daily since 2007, decided to accept Bitcoin because it is a simple, efficient way to accept electronic payment. With Bitcoin, there are virtually no barriers to entry besides ones willingness to accept it. They will be using the Bitcoin payment processor, Bitpay, which offers tools that allow merchants to accept Bitcoin and have U.S. dollars deposited into their bank accounts the next day for a 1% fee. This removes any concerns of Bitcoin’s price volatility while allowing them to take advantage of the efficiencies of the Bitcoin payment network. Credit card processors can charge upwards of 2-3% in addition to equipment rental, membership fees, and worrying about fraudulent charge-backs.

There’s also the idea of streamlining their wholesale operations (previously, drivers could only accept payment by checks, which then had to be brought back to the office and processed manually) and making it cheaper to process retail sales. So, you know, if you happen to have a bunch of crypto-currency burning a hole in your virtual wallet, now you can go buy some beer and bottle openers with it. Which is just science-fictiony awesome, I guess.

To celebrate, the BitcoinPHL meetup group will be heading to the PBC for a brewery tour and beer tasting on Saturday, February 1st and they’re inviting people who are curious about Bitcoin to join them. You can find more information at the BitcoinPHL meetup page.

Philadelphia Brewing Company [official]

Bitcoin [wikipedia]