Brewers Association beer and brewing stats for Kentucky and Indiana.

The straight dope from Kevin Gibson, including Kentucky and Indiana production rankings.

 Since this short snippet was buried in a "business briefing" update, I'm including all of Kevin's text.

Kentucky ranks 38th in U.S. in total breweries, report shows, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

The Brewers Association recently reported 2015 statistics on craft breweries state by state and the economic impact of the industry on each state; Kentucky ranked 38th in the nation with 24 total breweries, with California (518) by far being the highest.

The association reports that Kentucky breweries brewed 87,156 barrels of beer last year, or 0.8 gallons per adult (21 and over). Those numbers rank 32nd and 38th respectively nationwide. The economic impact is reported at $495 million, good for 27th in the United States.

Kentucky’s brewing industry, while it has taken a back seat to distilling in terms of popularity and growth, has shown movement in recent years. The number of breweries in the state has more than doubled in the last five years, according to the report.

In Louisville, Great Flood Brewing recently announced it will build a production brewery that will greatly increase its impact, while no fewer than two other breweries are in the process of opening.

Our neighbors to the north, Indiana, ranked 15th nationally with 115 breweries that drove more than $1 billion in economic impact. Nationally, there were more than 4,200 breweries doing business in 2015, according to the report. Domestic craft beer sales grew by 12.8 percent.

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Let the taps speak, because the blue law's gone, and Indiana's dry Christmas Day is no more.

Unrelated to the topic at hand, but cool.

Readers, hear my confession: I completely missed it. Totally; 100%. I did not know the law had been changed.

It's about time, isn't it?

Maybe the Freedom from Religion Foundation intervened. After all, the prohibition of alcohol sales on Christmas Day was a blatant imposition of selective religious blue law on what should be secular tippling.

Indiana may be a basket case, but at least this one's finally right.

Hoosiers can buy alcohol on Christmas for the first time since Prohibition (Fox59)

The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission (ATC) announced today you can buy alcohol on Christmas.

Although many businesses are closed on Christmas, restaurants, bars, liquor stores and grocery stores that are open will be allowed to sell alcohol to you.

Sun King fans in the Hoosier hinterlands, be patient: The beer is slowly returning.

Someone just asked me about this ...

Short version: This article refers to distribution returning to north central Indiana. Floyd, Clark and other Southern Indiana counties still are not on the list, but it is the Brewery's goal to have the entire state in service by the spring of 2016.

So, almost there.

Sun King increases distribution in Indiana, by Amy Haneline (Indy Star)

After an eight-month hiatus, Indiana's second-largest microbrewery, Sun King, will distribute to areas outside the Indianapolis metro area and Bloomington.

Unhappy and happy hours, in Indiana and elsewhere.

I was in my early twenties when Indiana banned happy hours (discounts predicated on time of day) and favoritism in pricing (i.e., ladies night). Since then, it's been Happy Day or Bust in the Hoosier state. If someone is advertising dollar longnecks during the UFC bout, the same price must be charged two hours before.

When the law first took effect, I immediately lost interest in Indiana University basketball, because the Tumbleweed in New Albany had a game night promotion involving "dee-fense, dee-fense": If IU held the opposition to less than 60 points, there was an hour of 2-for-1 well drinks following the final whistle.

This was the era when Mothers Against Drunk Drivers actually had a strong case to make. In later years, MADD became a prohibitionist parody, but then ... yes. In an auto-centric milieu like ours in Southern Indiana, it's simply insane to stage specials like these.

In hindsight, it's regrettable that food-based happy hours never caught on. We used to go to the long defunct Chi Chi's in Clarksville for happy hour margaritas, and when the law changed, the restaurant had a cheap food buffet instead. The cost to the consumer worked out about the same, but evidently there was no traction.

Mapping the United States of Happy Hours, by Aarian Marshall (City Lab)

Some cities are straight-up bacchanalian. Others, not so much.

Imagine this: You trudge off the plane at O’Hare, cranky and disheveled—but luckily, it’s beer time.

Not so fast: Five o’clock brings no discount drinks in the Chicago. In fact, happy hours—time-specific discounts on alcohol—are forbidden in the entire state of Illinois. That is, unless the governor finally signs into law the bill passed earlier this month that would allow bars and restaurants to set reduced drink prices for a portion of the day.

 ... Why are the laws so different in different cities? Many bans were implemented in the 1980s when citizen groups led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving presented state legislatures with some scary statistics.

What the wineries can do, and the breweries cannot.

At the New Albany Farmers Market on Saturday morning, both the Indian Creek Winery and Best Vineyards were on hand. Both are small, local farm wineries. They seemed to be doing a brisk trade.

In Indiana, wineries set up and conduct their trade at farmers markets, and what they're doing is both legal and generally lauded. Meanwhile, small breweries are not permitted to follow suit. Presumably, this discrepancy owes to a lingering suspicion on the part of undereducated legislators that while wineries make a product suitable for civilization, breweries corrode civilization with malt liquor and keg stands.

Note that the state representative for NABC's legislative district is Ed Clere, who labors mightily to change the discriminatory law governing breweries at the farmers market. He is to be applauded for this, and there'll be another spin of the wheel next spring.

In my world, wineries and breweries are precisely the same, except that one uses grapes and fruit to render adult libations, while the other deploys grain. After all, fermentation is a natural process. The continued existence of one set of rules for small wineries and another for small breweries is plainly ludicrous.

Parity. Why is this such a difficult concept?

But what if minors began drinking warm beer? Then what?

Granted, if you're looking for contradictory and often hypocritical weirdness within codes regulating beverage alcohol, each state in the union has something unique (and often hilarious) to offer. This said, Indiana certainly does appear determined to remain decidedly more weird than most.

Court Rules on Cold Beer Restrictions (InsideINdianaBusiness.com)

A U.S. District Court has upheld a state law that does not allow convenience, grocery and pharmacy stores to sell cold beer. The Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association took the matter to court, claiming the law is unconstitutional because it favors one class of retailer over another. The organization says it will continue to fight for "fairness" in the marketplace.

Oh dear; fairness in alcohol vending. Unfortunately, the first commandment taught to all bureaucrats seeking to regulate human consumption of alcoholic drinks is that "Thou hast no obligation to be fair." Personally, I don't think it's fair for the Centerplates of the world to price gouge in sports venues.

As noted previously, I've no dog in the big box/groceries/convenience stores vs. traditional package stores fight, apart from detesting corporate/chain entities on general principle. But even I have learned something from Inside Indiana Business's report, underlined in the passage below.

Indiana remains the only state in the country that regulates beer sales based on temperature. The law does not apply to wine products, thus allowing convenience stores to sell these products cold. According to IPCA and its members, the law causes confusion among customers who are able to buy cold wine but are forced to purchase beer warm, even though wine products contain approximately double the amount of alcohol.

Proponents of regulating beer based on temperature claimed that liquor stores are better at preventing the sale of alcohol to minors.

Dude, it depends on what the temperature of "cold" is. Right?

At NPR: "Guess Who's Fighting To Keep Indiana Dry On Sundays?"

"Indiana is the only one where you can't buy packaged beer, wine and liquor on Sundays."

Wrong.

In fact, even reporters based in Indiana invariably miss a key point: You most certainly can get cold beer to go on Sunday in Indiana ... from the state's 65+ small craft breweries. The first day for such sales was July 4, 2010.

Indiana's small wineries have been able to sell their wine to go on Sunday for many years, too.

Guess Who's Fighting To Keep Indiana Dry On Sundays?, by Sara Wittmeyer (NPR)

When you think summer, you might think of cold beer at a barbecue, maybe a bottle of wine with a Sunday picnic. A lot of people take it for granted that they can just go to the store and pick up alcohol.

Not in Indiana.

While many states have laws restricting liquor sales, Indiana is the only one where you can't buy packaged beer, wine and liquor on Sundays, and it's the only state that regulates alcohol sales based on temperature. Only liquor stores can sell cold beer.

Cavalier Distributing to assume NABC distribution in Floyd and Clark Counties in Indiana.

Effective on April 22, 2013, we’re shifting our local Indiana distribution to Cavalier Distributing. The patience of our customers is greatly appreciated as we transition local orders and deliveries to Cavalier, which already handles NABC throughout the remainder of Indiana. Read the rest here:

Cavalier Distributing to assume NABC distribution in Floyd and Clark Counties in Indiana

Indiana's ban on Sunday carry-out sales stands. See you at our local breweries and wineries this Sunday (hint: we can).

This decision means that for the time being, Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana look like this: On-premise licenses can serve on their own premises, and carry-out Sunday options remain restricted to small wineries and small breweries.

Indiana Sunday Alcohol Sales Bill Won't Get Vote, by Rick Howlett and the Associated Press (WFPL)S

The chairman of an Indiana House committee says the panel won't vote on a bill that would end Indiana's longtime ban on Sunday retail alcohol sales.

House Public Policy Chairman Bill Davis says he's decided against holding a committee vote on the measure. Davis' decision means Indiana residents who want to buy carry-out alcohol on Sundays will have to wait at least another year.

Dumbass AP reporter misses super point about Sunday sales in Indiana.

Indiana's small breweries and wineries can sell their own beer and wine for carry-out on Sundays, Jim Suhr.

Indiana liquor law could crimp Super Bowl parties

INDIANAPOLIS — Rich Pontolillo might merit a toast for his Super Bowl party preparations. He has beer and liquor stocked up ahead of the first Super Bowl ever held in his home state.

In Indiana, he didn’t have much choice about planning ahead: The state is among a handful that ban carryout liquor sales on Sundays, even with the NFL’s most-celebrated spectacle on the schedule

Tony's Wisconsin-Indiana poster for the Great Taste of the Midwest, 2011.

I may have mistakenly advised Tony to change "New Albaniana" to "New Albania." Either way, it's fine. I now understand that while New Albania is the home of New Albanians, New Albaniana is the state-wide, Indiana-inflected version. The poster will be on sale at our booth during the GTMW.

HBG gives you the skinny on Sunday carry-out sales from Indiana micros.

Carry-out beer sales from participating (and eligible) microbreweries and brewpubs begins this Sunday, July 4. Here's a handy compendium, which omits only one fact: Beginning July 1, we must see your identification to sell you a growler -- ANYTIME. That's the necessary legislative payback to the killjoy health fascist lobby, and really, a small price to pay for Sunday growler freedom in Indiana.

What Sunday Beer Sales Mean for Sunday Beer Drinking In Indiana (Hoosier Beer Geek blog)

True Brew, Rita Kohn's book about craft beer in Indiana, is coming very soon.

The proud author poses with an advance copy of her book, "True Brew: A Guide to Craft Beer in Indiana," as photographed by me a couple weeks back during a meeting at the Broad Ripple Brewing Company.

Rita's book inspires me to try my hand at an extended volume, perhaps collected essays. How's this for a title: "Everything You Know About Beer Is Wrong." Or, "Lite Never makes Right."

No more election day blue law tomfoolery in Indiana.

For as long as I've been blogging, it has been necessary to remind readers prior to an Indiana primary or general election that because of the state's commitment to archaic blue laws, no beer could be served until the polls closed at 6:00 p.m.

No more. The law finally has been scrapped, and next Tuesday (May 4), both NABC locations will observe regular business hours sans beer tapping restrictions.

Rescinding the election day ban on alcohol sales is one part of legislation (the bill is called SB 75 and was described in detail here earlier in the year) that went into effect immediately upon signing. Another is the rationalization of Sunday serving hours (now the same each day of the week). Sunday growler sales for microbreweries and brewpubs start on Sunday, July 4.

More on that later. For now, know that next week, there'll be no waiting for Elector.

Wineries expressly permitted, breweries expressly prohibited. What gives?

In effect, the state of Indiana allows wineries to use regulatory logic one way, and denies breweries the opportunity to use it in the same manner. It's bogus, and it's bull. Is there an Indiana legislator alive who can explain why?

(crickets chirping, pins dropping)

Indiana microbrewers want to sell beer on Sundays, by Bill Ruthhart (Indy Star).

When visitors tour Indiana wineries on a Sunday afternoon, not only can they sample the wine, they can take some home.

Now, Indiana's microbreweries say it's time their visitors were given the same opportunity.

Selling beer.

It is axiomatic, isn't it? One must sell the product, or all the production in the world is meaningless. It strikes me that I haven't introduced Josh Hill, who is NABC's junior outside sales representative on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. Josh is concentrating primarily on making friends and finding draft lines on Floyd and Clark counties, although we'll be broadening that to include a bit of territory to the east and west. John Campbell's still working the Louisville side (via River City Distributing).

The idea remains to self-distribute in Floyd and Clark counties, while Cavalier Distributing service the remainder of the state. Our first keg shipment went to Cavalier earlier this week, so if you're pub owner or beer fan outside of our limited southern self-distribution area, know that Beak's Best, Bob's 15-B and Elector are available. If you like our beers, the best way to help is ask your local to check out Cavalier's line of NABC drafts.

Our sales effort is evolving, so for further information, contacts and a sales pitch, write me or Josh.

A Victory six-pack is rendered deeply symbolic.

I emerged from the house this morning to find a six-pack of Victory Hop Devil in a paper sack on the porch. Seeing as the beer is an enduring favorite of mine, the ensuing elation is perfectly understandable. When I opened e-mail moments ago, there was a note from Ted, who lives around the block; seems a friend brought him a case straight from Pennsylvania, and Ted decided I should have a six-pack.

Forgive me for not yet noting that Ted's a wonderful man.

Reading between the lines, you'd be correct in inferring that a sixer of Hop Devil is a big deal because Victory beers are not distributed in the state of Indiana, but this will be changing soon. At the brewery's website, the availability map hasn't yet been altered, but below it the text reads:

World Class Beverages
3737 Waldemere Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46241
(317) 612-3105
Jim Schembre- General Manager

Indeed, my WCB rep recently told me that Victory was on the way to Indiana, and Ted's gift truly is a harbinger of good things to come.

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See also: "Mr. Phillips, I presume?" (Part 2 of 2), the story of drinking Hop Devil in Vienna, Austria, in 2006. Yes, really ... sort of.

Hoosier beer tasting tonight at Charlestown Pizza Company.

For readers in the Louisville metro area ...

Starting at 6:00 p.m. this evening, there'll be a tasting of Hoosier beers at the Charlestown Pizza Company.

CPC is owned and operated by Shawn and Tajana Vest, longtime NABC associates, who now are spreading the gospel 25 minutes up the road in Charlestown. Tonight there'll be a couple of NABC beers on tap, asnd (I believe) other Hoosier brews provided by World Class Beverages.

I'll be there circa 7:00 p.m., and hope to see a few old friends and meet a few new ones.

Another Gravity Head review hits the Web.

Matt Dunn waxes poetic about this year's Gravity Head at New Albanian.

Some worts swallow light like a black hole. Others gather glasses and brewing implements in a clatter of near-wort orbit. It's hazardous for the brewer. Some get sucked right in. They have to wear special anti-gravity boots. And even then, well, even then it might be safer to stand on the deck of an Alaskan crab boat in a storm.

While you're at Indiana Beer to read Matt's fine piece, take a look around. Note that the ranks of Southern Indiana brewers is increasing, and don't miss Bob's roundup of the recent distilling conference in nearby Starlight:

The Columbus Bar (Power House Brewing).

Bob reports from the American Distilling Instute Conference.