It's rare to find the words "common sense" and "alcohol sales in Pennsylvania" in the same sentence. But that unusual combination of words will be justified if the state legislature passes a proposal now being considered that would liberalize beer sales in the commonwealth.

For the first time since Prohibition, if the provision in Senate Bill 674 becomes law, Pennsylvanians would be able to buy beer in less than case quantities at state beer distributorships.

Over the past 20 years, the beer industry has seen the growth of so-called microbrews in all regions of the country. Microbrews are generally produced in smaller quantities and generally offer an alternative taste to the more mass-produced products from Budweiser, Miller and other industry giants. Some are distributed regionally, some nationally.

But beer drinkers wanting to try a new product from a microbrew in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Colorado or California have been forced by current law to buy a case at a time. Given the chance that the beer enthusiast might not like a particular new beer and the fact that several interesting new beers might be for sale at the local beer distributorship, a one-case minimum is impractical — and certainly not consumer-friendly.

Changing the law to permit people to buy just a six-pack of several different beers is customer-friendly and would allow more people to try new beer offerings from smaller, craft-brewers around the nation.

The proposed changes also would allow restaurants and taverns to sell three six-packs of beer, rather than being limited to the current two six-pack rule.

Beer sales in Pennsylvania might see further changes in the emerging trend of larger grocery stores adding in-store restaurants to enable beer sales.

The state Senate Law and Justice Committee voted last week to send the beer sales bill to the full Senate for a vote.

If the proposed changes are approved, Pennsylvania would take a few more steps toward ridding itself of the dubious distinction of having the most restrictive alcohol laws in the nation.

Such restrictive alcohol-sales laws could be justified if this state demonstrated reduced levels of alcoholism or lower drunk-driving statistics. But that is not the case.

Liberalizing restrictions on beer (and wine) sales in Pennsylvania benefits consumers and is something other states did decades ago.