Wawa’s First Official Beer Causes Massive Lines, Two-Hour Waits

Philadelphia is home to plenty ofdiehard Wawa devotees, but it’s not every day you see a line around the store. Heck, Ilived in Philadelphiafor a decade, made plenty of Wawa runs, and never remember a line more than a few people deep at the counter. But it’s also not every day that Wawa debuts its first-ever beer—and knowing how much Philadelphians love their craft brews as well, it’s no surprise that yesterday’s tapping event had people waiting for hours.

Last week, Wawa announced it had collaborated with the Aston-based 2SP Brewing Company to create the first beer to ever bear the Wawa logo:Winter Reserve Coffee Stout, an oatmeal stout steeped with the convenience store chain’s new limited-edition Winter Blend coffee. Though the beer doesn’t officially go on sale until Monday, December 10, Wawa held a preview event at its Chadds Ford location—the only Wawa location that currently sells beer—yesterday, drawing between 400 and 500 customers eager to try it. Beyond featuring tasters of the brew, the two hour event also saw the first 50 cases of the stout sold in four-packs while supplies last.

CBS费城派出直升机—because what’s the point of having a chopper if you can’t send it to Wawa beer releases—and you can see a line winding around the entire store. Granted, CBS suggested that we’re talking about “dozens” of people, not hundreds or thousands. But seriously, this is a line around a Wawa: I don’t care how much you love their Italian Classic Hoagie, most Philadelphians won’t wait more than four minutes for one of those things before they start getting in an employee’s face.

But in this instance,CBS Philly spoke to one customerwho said she was in line “for almost two hours.” In her defense, she then proceeded to grimace because no self-respecting Philadelphian would wait in line at a Wawa for that long. It’s a convenience store, for god’s sake! But then again, this was no ordinary Wawa run...though I wouldn’t be surprised if she still grabbed milk, a Wawa Diet Peach Iced Tea, and a to-go bowl of chicken corn chowder. It’s just muscle memory really.