Indiana legislative update.

The Indy Star's Amy Haneline has the lowdown on alcoholic beverage bills in the Indiana legislature, including artisan distilling Sunday sales, growler refills for cider and mead (the "New Day Law") and increased three-way permits for Hamilton and Boone counties.

The first two are "fixes," thus preferred by legislators during the short session. The latter is the latest manifestation of sheer tomfoolery, insofar as three-ways are subject to outmoded quotas, the beer/wine permits are "plentiful."

Increased alcohol permits, Sunday sales for artisan distilleries passes Senate committee

But it isn't really a "ban" if there are Sunday alternatives (hint: Indiana breweries and wineries).

The effort is underway again this year.

Bill to lift Sunday alcohol sales ban has fewer store rules (Associated Press)

A new proposal to lift Indiana's eight decades-old ban on Sunday carryout alcohol sales would impose fewer new restrictions on grocery stores and pharmacies than a bill that failed in the Legislature last year.

The measure represents a fresh attempt by Indiana House Public Policy Chairman Tom Dermody to end the state's status as having the last such statewide "blue law" in the U.S.

Rep. Dermody, who seems to be bidding for recognition as the Great Alcohol Emancipator (well, it works for me), also has proposed a measure to reverse one of MADD's greatest legislative wins.

Will the institution of Happy Hour return to Hoosier shores?

I was in my early twenties when Indiana banned the promotional practice of happy hours (alcoholic beverage discounts predicated on time of day) and also favoritism in pricing (i.e., ladies night).

Back to Sundays, and a convenient summary of how Hoosiers work around the Sunday ban.

8 ways to get alcohol on Sundays, by Amy Haneline (IndyStar)

A legislative effort in 2015 brought the state closer than it has ever been to lifting the Prohibition-era ban on Sunday alcohol sales for carryout. But sure enough, the liquor stores and big-box couldn't come to a compromise. Luckily, there are plenty of workarounds to getting an adult beverage on Sundays.

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Riverfront permits, carry-out growlers and Roger's status as lightning rod for esoteric regulatorydom.

Is anyone noticing a pattern?

2013: The Floyd County Health Department decides temporary food permits should apply to draft beer pours, and is proven mistaken.

PourGate 2013: It took two years, but this new law silences Dr. Tom Harris and the Floyd County Health Department.

2014: Indiana's requirement for weenies in the freezer (food service requirement) comes under scrutiny, and is amended.

Another legislative win: Effective July 1, revised food requirements for Indiana brewery taprooms.

2015: Decades later, Indiana's riverfront development three-way permits suddenly become incompatible with carry-out sales from small breweries.

No wonder they want to be rid of me.

Bangert: Hidden law mean goodbye to LBC growlers?, by Dave Bangert (Lafayette Journal & Courier)

And then one day, just like that, Greg Emig found out his Lafayette Brewing Co. wasn’t supposed to be filling 64-ounce growlers for carryout of Eighty-Five, Star City Lager or any of the other fresh beer produced at the brew pub on Main Street.

Last fall, word started getting around among the Brewers of Indiana Guild that there was a glitch in state law that forbids carryout of any alcohol under special liquor licenses set up in economic development zones.

And now, after years of being tucked away in Indiana Code, the law was being enforced by the state’s Alcohol and Tobacco Commission ...

 ... The story started in October, about the time of Harvest Homecoming festival in the southern Indiana city of New Albany.

Profuse public thanks go to Senator Ron Alting and Representative Ed Clere for their diligent efforts to make necessary repairs to these and other strange statutory divergences. After all, the ATC doesn't write these laws; it merely enforces them.

The riverfront three-way permits referenced here obviously were not intended to be incompatible with small brewing in Indiana; it's all about the wording, and the likelihood is that the words will be fixed during the coming legislative session.

As always, stay tuned.

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Hoosier brewers and brewer peeps, read this: "New Indiana Laws in a Nutshell."

Numerous legal changes took effect on Wednesday, July 1, and you need to know about them. Some are quite clear, while others will require clarification. You may need to chat with your regional ATC officers; NABC's ATC branch is located in Seymour, and the people there have always been straightforward and helpful with me.

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New Laws in a Nutshell

PLEASE READ FIRST: This is not intended as legal advice, nor as a thorough analysis of the new laws. Every fact situation is unique and application of any law can hinge on a small detail. Enforcement may differ in the various excise regions. Always check with your attorney for counsel on how statutes and administrative rules affect your business.

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It was a big year at the State House. We had an ambitious agenda and achieved most of our goals. New laws went into effect on July 1, 2015. Here is a brief introduction to the final legislation.

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Senate Enrolled Act 297

BARREL CAP
Holder of Small Brewer permit may produce up to 90,000 barrels annually for sale or distribution within Indiana.
But NOTE:

• If brewery has more than one location and/or permit, the 90,000 limit applies to the aggregate.

SELF-DISTRIBUTION
Brewery may self-distribute up to 30,000 barrels annually.
But NOTE:

• The 30,000 limit applies to aggregate. Whether a brewery has one location of ten, it may only self-distribute 30,000 bbls.

  

House Enrolled Act 1053

BREWERY/WINERY
A brewery and winery, properly permitted, occupying the same building may serve from a common service bar without separation.

House Enrolled Act 1311

FOOD
Tasting rooms with Small Brewer permit must have food available for on-site consumption, but may fulfill the food requirement in one or more of the following ways:

• Food truck at or near the premises;

• Menus available for customers to order from restaurants that will deliver to the premises; or

• Food prepared onsite.

But NOTE:

• If using restaurant delivery option, make the menus obvious and have a solid agreement in place with the restaurant(s).

• This section does NOT apply to restaurant permits (Beer & Wine RR or 3-way).

• Use good faith. Don’t stretch the rules.

SECOND BUILDING

Beer may be stored or conditioned in a non-permit building that is owned or leased by the permit holder.
But NOTE:

• The term “by the permit holder” means the name on the permit, e.g., “XYZ Brewery.” This does not mean that John X, President of XYZ Brewery can store the beer in his home garage.

• Excise is taking a very hard line on this. “Store or condition” means exactly that and nothing more. Beer cannot be sold or served at a non-permit building, and cannot be delivered to any buyer or distributor from a non-permit building.

• Best practice: get your building permitted to avoid problems and heightened scrutiny. If it is on your property, you can probably amend your floor plan to include it. If at a separate address, get a new permit.

LOCAL ORDINANCES
Local government (town, city, county, township) may not enact laws or rules that would change the scope of any alcoholic beverage permits. The ATC has exclusive authority over permit issues (subject only to legislative changes or judicial action).
But NOTE:

• This provision is in a section on alcoholic beverage permits and it only applies to permits.

FESTIVAL OVERSIGHT BY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Provides that beer served at a fest or fair is not considered “food” and not subject to oversight or regulation by the local health department.
But NOTE:

• This language ONLY applies to festivals and fairs. Do not take this language out of context. It does NOT prevent the local health department from visiting or inspecting your brewery.

• However, a brewery that provides food in any fashion—including garnishes, fruit or condiments—will be subject to local health regulation.

• DO NOT serve fruit, peppers, garnishes, munchies or any type of food product at a fest or fair unless you get a food permit. Bad idea.

ARTISAN DISTILLERY OWNERSHIP
Modifies “ownership” language of preexisting requirement that applicant for distiller’s permit must have held a permit for at least three years. Previously required 100% same ownership in distillery as brewery, now need a minimum of 50%.


“TRADE SHOW” or “EXPOSITION
This section mirrors a pre-existing winery provision that allows wineries to sell bottles at festivals, with certain stipulations. Although the language refers to “trade show” and “exposition” Excise calls these “festival days.” 

• Brewery may use up to 45 days per year to participate in festivals where it will sell packaged beer.

• You must notify your local excise officer (email or telephone call should suffice). Advance contact is mandatory. NOTE: Indiana Excise does not currently allow growlers under this section. See note, below.

• Each “day” used will last for entire calendar day and could include participation in more than one event on same date.

• Those wishing to sell carryout beer must be in separate area of festival with other permittees using a festival day. From this area, breweries can offer tastings as well as selling carryout (package goods).

• If you organize a local festival, you will still need a temp permit for the fest. If you choose to allow breweries to sell carryout, you will need to put those breweries in a separate area. Each brewery in that area will need to use one of their festival days and give proper notice to Excise.

But NOTE:

• Proceed with CAUTION. Excise is not yet sure how to interpret this language. They are fine with carryout bottles and cans, but NOT growlers. The issue is still being discussed. Until growlers are officially authorized for festival carryout, do not rely on this statutory language to sell growlers outside your brewery.

• As always, use good faith and good judgment when dealing with Excise. Contact your officer early to ensure you and he/she have the same understanding of the new provision.

• DO NOT expect to sell take-home products at Guild festivals. Our fests are sampling-only events. You will be notified if this policy ever changes.

• The Guild is working with the ATC to iron out the logistics of this new law. Again, proceed with caution.

House Enrolled Act 1542

PERMIT VALID UPON COMMISSION APPROVAL
Upon final approval of the Commission, a letter of authority shall be issued and the permittee may operate fully until actual permit is received.


TEMPORARY PERMIT APPLICATION TIME
Application for a temp beer permit must be made at least 5 days prior to event.


SUPPLEMENTAL CATERING PERMIT APPLICATION TIME
Notice of each function may be given at least 48 hours prior to use (previously 15 days).
 

Final Note: Remember, this is not an exhaustive review of alcoholic beverage legislation. Use the links to look at the full bills, remembering that new language (in bold) applies only to a specific section or sub-section of the code. Specific questions affecting your brewery should be directed to your attorney. General questions can, of course, be sent to the Guild (directed to Lee). We will try to help!

Lee A. Smith, Executive Director

Another legislative win: Effective July 1, revised food requirements for Indiana brewery taprooms.

Previously, we took a look at the resolution of one long-running annoyance ...

May 20, 2015: PourGate 2013: took two years, but this new law silences Dr. Tom Harris and the Floyd County Health Department.

 ... and now, on to another. The background is here.

September 10, 2014: ON THE AVENUES: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral.

With all due credit to Rep. Ed Clere and the lobbying effort put forth by the Brewers of Indiana Guild, there'll be a common-sense change to the law requiring Indiana brewery taprooms to furnish food -- those dreaded frozen weenie sandwiches. It takes effect on July 1.

Here is the exact wording.

HOUSE ENROLLED ACT No. 1311

AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning alcohol and tobacco.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:

SECTION 1. IC 7.1-3-2-7, AS AMENDED BY SEA 297-2015, SECTION 2, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2015]: Sec. 7. The holder of a brewer's permit or an out-of-state brewer holding either a primary source of supply permit or an out-of-state brewer's permit may do the following …

… (5)(G) Sell the brewery's beer by the glass for consumption on the premises. Brewers permitted to sell beer by the glass under this clause must furnish the minimum food requirements prescribed by the commission. make food available for consumption on the premises. A brewer may comply with the requirements of this clause by doing any of the following:

(i) Allowing a vehicle of transportation that is a food establishment (as defined in IC 16-18-2-137) to serve food near the brewer's licensed premises.

(ii) Placing menus in the brewer's premises of restaurants that will deliver food to the brewery.

(iii) Providing food prepared at the brewery.

Food trucks and delivery menus. That's fair, isn't it? Now that Earth Friends Cafe is housed at Bank Street Brewhouse, the point is moot for NABC -- but I didn't urge a solution for us alone. It's about the collective.

Also, there always was a fundamental difference between these two issues.

Ironically, the food requirement is about the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, an Indiana brewer's central governing authority. I respect the ATC and its role, and have tried to organize my professional life accordingly.

Meanwhile, the health department's insolent insistence that it could conjure administratively what couldn't be found in statute was something that needed to be fought hard, and was.

The health department wants beer to be under its domain as food?

Then change the law, but don't wave the magic revenue enhancement wand and expect me to buy it.

Tiring fighting these battles ... but necessary.

RFRA and the damage done: Legislators have some explaining to do.

With the exception of five lonely defectors in the Indiana House, including my own state representative Ed Clere, the state's Republican majority dropped a neutron bomb on Indiana business when it pushed RFRA through to Governor Pence. It has since been amended, but ample damage waa done.

The PC: Our bedfellows are becoming stranger with each passing legislative session.

It is bad law, a regrettable over-reach (the GOP enjoys a super majority in Indiana state government), a human rights disaster, and a body blow to the state's business climate -- all of these being purely negative aspects, and yet the saddest part of it might be the grubby, small-minded pettiness of the politics involved, and how, with a stroke of his gilded crayon, Pence has deposited this bundle of divisive bile at all our front doors, to foul all our communities.

These are the same legislators who've been so conducive to measures favoring the growth of Indiana-brewed beer. Understanding that this is my personal opinion only ... but don't some of our "friends" need to explain in greater detail why this happened?

Surely RFRA must rank as one of the greatest unforced errors in recent Hoosier political memory. From the perspective of beer and brewing, it's worth remembering that the same fundamentalist constituency being pandered to with RFRA forms the backbone of Prohibitionist sentiment in Indiana. That's worrisome.

My state senator, Ron Grooms, has responded to principled criticism of his unqualified support for RFRA by digging ever deeper bunkers of denial, and insisting that RFRA was misunderstood.

But the problem for Grooms is that we understand all too well.

Honesty, anyone?

Business Insider: Only group effort can clean up RFRA fallout, by John Ketzenberger (Indy Star)

... Downtown Indy's Senior Vice President Bob Schultz said last week there were more than 700 million Internet impressions of the phrase "Boycott Indiana" in the first four days after the governor signed the bill. He called the reaction a "catastrophe" for local business.

While the loss of dollars and cents won't be determined for months and may never be known for certain, the damage is already done for those who match talent with jobs in Central Indiana.

"This has played into every stereotype," said David Phoebus, an executive recruiter for Indianapolis-based Vaco. "You know, like the sign at the state line that says, 'Welcome to Indiana, set your clocks back 200 years.' "

HB 1311 emerges from committee, and Clay Robinson is looking sharp.

He cleans up nice. The ad featuring Clay Robinson of Sun King Brewing Company appears in the current print edition of The Economist. I know this because I've subscribed to The Economist since the late 1980s.

The ad is from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation: Indiana, A State That Works.

Sun King and Three Floyds have taken the lead in lobbying for rational maximum barrelage limits for Indiana small brewers. Support Indiana Brewers tells you all about their efforts.

Here's the update on today's unanimous House committee vote in favor of HB 1311:

Beer Production Bill Clears Hurdle (Inside Indiana Business)

A bill that includes provisions to raise the production cap on small Indiana breweries is moving forward. The House Public Policy Committee has approved HB 1311, which would boost the limit to 90,000 barrels per year.

The PC: On barrelage, Dean Smith and diversity studies.

The PC: On barrelage, Dean Smith and diversity studies.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

It’s a potpourri kind of snowy day in the Ohio Valley, so let’s begin with a preview of my latest Hip Hops column for Food & Dining Magazine. It’s called “Craft Beer: Where It Has Been, and Where It’s Going,” and can be viewed in its entirety here: Spring 2015 (Volume 47).

This excerpt from a column written well in advance of the current Indiana legislative session seems fairly prescient as bills begin coming out of committee. As a wee bit of foreshadowing: In Indiana, (craft’s) size is starting to matter.

Is craft beer an objective or subjective label? Can it be made by a big producer, or must it always be from a small brewing operation? Must it be made near to its consumers, or can craft beer have a far-flung consumer base?

The Brewers Association, craft brewing’s trade group, has a vested interest in these questions, as does the federal government’s Tax and Trade Bureau. State legislators and alcoholic beverage control agencies are eager to know, too.

Covetous multinational monoliths, watching with alarm as their traditional flagship lagers erode, desire craft beer’s imagery and demographics. They prefer consumers to regard “craft” as a vague advertising term, and to ignore the small print.

Simply stated: From business and regulatory standpoints, craft beer keeps getting bigger and bigger, making it ever harder for the segment to espouse a foundational ethos of smallness. Craft beer remains an artistic phenomenon best experienced locally, but one inevitably destined to mimic commercial imperatives through distribution.

For many, the essence of craft beer is spiritual, not numerical, but while poets and purists prefer to rhapsodize about hoppy, malty, sweet and sour aesthetics, politicians and bureaucrats demand quantifiable criteria, transferable to a ledger sheet, because awarding “small” businesses an excise tax reduction implies an accepted, concrete definition of small, and in beer, this measure begins with annual production by the barrel (31 gallons).

The issue is the total number of barrels, with beer style and brewing methods generally superfluous, leading to numerous statistical anomalies and Jesuitical reckonings.

Enjoy the remainder of the column. If memory serves, 2015 is my tenth anniversary writing columns for John White at Food & Dining.

It's been a blast.

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Former North Carolina Tar Heels basketball coach Dean Smith died on February 7, 2015. You may know that Smith retired from coaching in 1997 as the winningest coach in NCAA history (a record since eclipsed), but perhaps you didn’t know this.

Beloved Basketball Coach Dean Smith Spoke Out On Segregation, Prison System, Nuclear Warfare

… Smith’s celebrity owes to his off-court demonstrations of character as well. As a high school basketball star in Topeka, KS, Smith urged his school to integrate its two racially segregated basketball teams … (and later) as head coach at UNC, Smith didn’t have to ask anyone else to desegregate the basketball community he was part of. He just did it …

… the causes Smith chose to exert himself on go beyond racial equality. Smith publicly supported efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world and vocally opposed the death penalty, reportedly even taking players to visit prisons and death row inmates on some occasions to show them the injustices of the American prison system.

College basketball ceased to be of interest to me long before Dean Smith’s retirement, and I cannot lay claim to detailed knowledge of the coach’s life on or off the court. Curiously, from what little I recall, Smith’s principled activism garnered few column inches while he was active, perhaps because it contrasted with the hypocrisy-laden college basketball narrative.

It’s pure speculation, but perhaps a common thread links a coach like Dean Smith, a musician like Woody Guthrie, and a brewing company owner like me, because basketballs, guitars and breweries all are perfectly capable of serving as metaphorical fascist-killing machines, at least when placed in the proper hands, with aligned minds and attitudes.

Writer John Feinstein provides the best possible coda.

To me, (Dean Smith’s) legacy is summed up in something that happened that I was involved in peripherally, years and years ago when I first learned about his involvement in desegregating the restaurants in Chapel Hill. And I asked him about it 'cause it was his minister who told me the story.

And he said, I wish Reverend Seymour hadn't told you that. And I said, Dean, why? Why would you want that? You should be proud of being involved in something like that. And he looked at me, and he said, John, you should never be proud of doing the right thing. You should just do the right thing.

And that's who Dean Smith was.

It’s just one beer drinker’s opinion, of course, but the contemporary American “craft” beer scene would be vastly improved if more adherents took Dean Smith’s advice to heart.

Call it craft, or just plain beer, but a periodic reminder is full merited: It began as a radical, revolutionary movement away from the beer business as usual, and it remains relevant only insofar as this point isn’t forgotten. When we lose sight of this fact, we risk losing our origins.

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Earlier in February, I attended the bi-monthly meeting of the Brewers of Indiana board of directors in Indianapolis. As referenced above, this being an even-numbered year, the Indiana General Assembly holds a long, two-month session. Much of what we discussed at the BIG meeting pertained to the guild’s legislative agenda, and one must accept that little of certainty can be said about the legislature’s activities until the session is concluded, and the dust settles.

We customarily discuss many items, and among them in February was a broader consideration of what might be called “diversity” in “craft” beer and brewing circles.

(Note that in rhetorical terms, I favor a gradual weaning from usage of the modifier “craft,” as it has come to mean very little.)

Prior to the meeting, DJ McAllister, the owner and brewer at the Black Swan brewpub in Plainfield, had messaged me with an idea, one I endorsed unreservedly. He proposed recommending to the board that a work group be formed to gather information on beer and diversity. DJ introduced the idea, and it was approved. I’ll be working with him on this project, and am delighted that he took the lead.

A work group’s information gathering will strike some as a flaccid response to our previous spirited debate about sexist beer names and images, but I must disagree with this characterization. They’re called baby steps for a very good reason.

A work group is a good place to start, and a plausible way of gathering facts under the imprimatur of the guild. Any suggestions as to sources of information are deeply appreciated; please e-mail them to me.

The 80 Year War: Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana.

Personal opinion time again.

Prior to the short legislative session in 2014, the House Public Policy Committee had been helmed for too many years by Rep. Bill Davis, who was an unapologetic prohibitionist and made no bones about his preference for emasculating virtually any alcoholic beverage bills to come within whiffing distance of his hypersensitive nostrils. Since all of them had to pass through Davis's committee, there was predictable carnage.

Last year, not a lot happened in the committee on the adult libations front; then again, it was the first passage with a new man at the wheel, and a half-session.

In 2015, things have been crazy.

Look at the Onion map above. Picture Indiana small brewers, the wholesaler lobby, the groceries 'n' big boxes, and the package store group, all slugging away at their legislative agendas -- and in the process, pounding the stuffing out of each other. My theory is that after those many legislative sessions, in which Carrie Nation Davis kept reforms bottled up at committee level, suddenly there is a new sense of unfettered possibility ... and frantic maneuvering therein.

In the few days since the following was written, I'm told that the grocery chains and big boxes have turned against the package store proposal. It isn't hard to see why. One merely wonders about the extent of the collateral damage.

Deal brewing on Sunday Indiana alcohol sales, by Tony Cook (Indy Star via Louisville Courier-Journal)

Lawmakers have crafted a proposed compromise that would allow Sunday carryout alcohol sales in exchange for new restrictions on how drug and grocery stores can sell beer and liquor.

House Public Policy Chairman Tom Dermody plans to introduce the compromise measure on Wednesday.

RELATED | Bill loosens rules for combined Indiana alcohol sales

It would allow Sunday alcohol sales at any store with an alcohol permit, but it would create more stringent restrictions on retailers other than package liquor stores.

Those restrictions would require hard liquor to be sold from behind a counter and would require beer and wine to be located in a single aisle or a separate room. Clerks would also have to receive alcohol server training and permits.

RELATED | Fate uncertain for Sunday alcohol sale ban bill

Those new requirements are causing a sudden role reversal among grocery and liquor stores, which have been battling over the issue for years.

"Battle brews over craft beer production caps" in Indiana.

As it pertains to alcoholic beverage initiatives, the current legislative session in Indiana has become fiendishly difficult to explain, and about as hard to handicap. Beer production caps have less to do with how many barrels a "small" Indiana brewer can brew and still remain small.

In my opinion, it has far more to do with the right of small brewers in Indiana to self-distribute, and more succinctly, how the state's traditional wholesaling tier feels about it ... and the extent to which Indiana's traditional wholesalers want to disrupt something they can't get a piece of.

Cher once sang of gypsies, tramps and thieves. She omitted leeches.

That's also my opinion, of course.

Battle brews over craft beer production caps, by Maureen Hayden (CNHI)

 ... Indiana now has more than 100 microbreweries on tap, with more in development. At Three Floyds, head brewer Chris Boggess said production caps, which he calls "stupid" and "arbitrary," are hindering the brewery's growth.

Three Floyds is poised to expand far beyond the 40,000 barrels it produced last year, with a $4 million investment in a new bottling line that could produce 150,000 barrels within five years.

“People keep saying, ‘Send us more beer,’ and that’s what we want to do,” Boggess said.
Standing in the way are alcohol distribution laws that date to the end of Prohibition. Designed to control an uncorked industry and collect millions in alcohol tax revenues, the 1935 liquor control act created a three-tier system that separated alcohol makers from retailers with a middleman - distributors.

Making it easier for Indiana wineries to ship wine?

Count me among those rooting for removal of these restrictions.

GRAPE SENSE: Legislation could remove onsite restriction, by Howard Hewitt (News and Tribune)

Wine enthusiasts have read about the great wines of Huber, Butler, Oliver, and Turtle Run wineries in Southern Indiana. But what if you’re reading Grape Sense in Marion or Peru Indiana? You just can’t pick up the phone and order some wine to try these great bottles. It’s prohibited by state law. And let’s admit, it’s a long drive.

There is seldom good news in Indiana on direct shipping laws but there is hope in the ongoing session of the Indiana legislature. Current law, in place since 2006, requires consumers to visit on site and make a face-to-face purchase before they can order online. It hurt Indiana wineries significantly when enacted and winery owners are excited it could disappear.

A bill has been filed to allow Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana.

But without the key legislative player whose authorship was sought by proponents.

I'll be asked this numerous times in the weeks to come, and so allow me to answer again: Neither NABC nor the Brewers of Indiana Guild has a stake in this fight. We're neutral. The fact that NABC can sell Sunday carry-out growlers owes to legislation from 2010 defining our position as a small brewer, within the framework of brewery licensing. The bill described below is cut from a different bolt of legal cloth.

Rinse and repeat.

Bill filed to allow Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana, by Tony Cook (Indy Star)

A bill that would allow Sunday alcohol sales at groceries, pharmacies, and liquor stores has been filed in the Indiana House, but the man who will decide whether it gets a hearing is not the author.

Some, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, had hoped that House Public Policy Chairman Tom Dermody, R-LaPorte, would author the bill and in doing so signal his support for the measure.

That would have been a big victory for those who want to overturn the Prohibition-era ban because the bill must pass out of Dermody’s committee to get a hearing in the House.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild and Sunday sales in Indiana.

This issue is destined to be a prominent feature of the forthcoming 2015 Indiana legislative session.

"Package store owners want to keep the cork in Sunday sales in Indiana."

There are 98 breweries currently operating in Indiana, and the Brewers of Indiana Guild works on their behalf. Accordingly, it's important to remember the guild's official position with regard to the expansion of Sunday sales.

You've probably seen Sunday alcohol sales in the news and may have even been asked about the issue by your patrons and others. Brewers of Indiana Guild stands neutral on Sunday sales and any other issue that is not part of our legislative agenda.

Brewery owners and representatives, please be aware simply that one's personal opinion always should be kept separate from collective policy. Indiana's small breweries and wineries already possess the right to sell their products for carry-out on Sunday. Beyond that, we don't have a dog in this fight.

Disagree? That's quite possible, and if so, please consider getting involved with the guild. The guild's legislative positions are derived from the viewpoints of membership. If we don't know your viewpoint, we cannot discuss it. We cannot learn from it.

I've been a director on the board of the guild since at least 2009; quite frankly, I cannot remember exactly, although I'm up for re-election in 2015. Simply stated, the legislative agenda is of critical importance, and we've gotten quite a lot done in recent years. Apart from that, all the other things we try to get done definitely impact all of the state's brewers. The guild is imperfect, but it can be a valuable tool.

And tools don't matter much unless they're used. Drop me a line and I'll let you know what's happening.

The PC: A craft beer toast to opposing HJR-3.

(Published at LouisvilleBeer.com on January 27, 2014)

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A craft beer toast to opposing HJR-3

Seated amid the cheesy 1960s-era veneer that delineates New Albany’s primary civic meeting room, idly monitoring a city council meeting, I was wishing there’d have been time at The Exchange for a third martini (sweet Jeeebus, why don’t they run a cash bar at functions like this?), when suddenly a beer discussion broke out on Twitter. My two cents quickly dispensed via the miracle of the iPhone, it was back to the numbingly predictable provincial political skullduggery

Then a friend tweeted.

“You own a brewery? I thought you were a city engineer or something.”

Sometimes I wonder myself.

How to properly report the prospect of beer and wine at the Indiana State Fair.

If I had seen Chris Sikich's Indy Star article first, yesterday's post wouldn't have been made. This account is far better, and entirely non-flippant.

Has there ever been a better example of Indiana's fundamental weirdness than a state legislature banning beer and wine from the state fair because of littering?

Ban on alcohol at State Fair may end

Would you like to enjoy a cold beer or glass of wine at the Indiana State Fair?

The prohibition on alcohol sales at the fair, which has lasted more than six decades, may soon be coming to an end, thanks to changing attitudes and growing support for an emerging homegrown beer and wine industry.

Enacted in 1947 as a reaction to fair litterbugs, the ban is now considered by some to be an outdated vestige of blue laws that ought to be discarded.

Increasing support from State Fair officials, craft beer and wine producers, and some key state legislators makes overturning of the ban a stronger possibility this year, despite failed attempts in the past.

Beer and wine normally are not known as "booze", unless you're a yellow journalist.

You really have to wonder about the headline.

"Booze."

The attitude overall is flippant, beginning with the opening sentence. Then again, does journalism really exist any longer? Let's begin at the beginning, where the word "Indianapolis" is misspelled.

Booze could be Indiana state fair's newest attraction, by Hannah Troyer (TheStatehouseFile.com)

INDIANPOLIS — Those craving to wash down their serving of fried butter with a cold beer at the Indiana State Fair may soon have their wish granted.

Senate Bill 168, authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages during the State Fair.

“Because of the current statute in place, during the State Fair no alcohol can be sold. We have microbreweries and wineries that really would like to not only be able to display their products, but to sell their products,” Leising said. “That’s what I’m trying to make happen. It will be interesting to see if I can get support. It’s one of those common sense bills, I think.”

Hmm, that actually is sensible. And why is Indiana's one of only two state fairs nationwide to espouse Prohibition?

Alcohol was prohibited after the state fair of 1947 because, instead of throwing their beer bottles away, patrons littered the fairgrounds.

Of course, the prohibitionists never really die. They just slither back from behind a different rock.

While supporters believe the change will be positive, critics — including Drug Free Marion County — said the possible sale of alcohol is an issue. The group says the beverages may cause problems and threaten the “family-friendly environment” the state fair promotes.

“We feel that it brings along too many problems,” said Nancy Beals, prevention project coordinator for Drug Free Marion County.

It's important to remember, as Sen Leising specifies, that the bill concerns beer and wine made in Indiana. Bud, Miller and Coors cannot play. They'd like to. That's the part of genuine concern.

Package store lobbyist says Hoosiers support restrictions on selling alcohol.

Our non-local chain newspaper recently erected a paywall, but s long as you're not a frequent visitor, you shouldn't have to tunnel through to read the article.

In it, Indiana's package store lobbyist makes the case against relaxing controls on the availability of alcohol in Indiana, which is to say, against the notion that Wal-Mart should be allowed to sell cold beer to go on a Sunday. Note that he cleverly avoids arguing along the lines of whether the best of all possible worlds includes this notion. Rather, it's about whether there should be regulation at the start.

I don't have a dog in this fight, so give it up for Steve Kohrman, "chairman of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, the industry voice for package liquor stores."

KOHRMAN: It's the same old argument

Heading into the 2014 legislative session in Indiana, the argument again is being made — in a tired and worn way — that Indiana’s laws controlling the sales of alcohol are outmoded, inconvenient and circumspect.

In reality, the restrictions on selling alcohol — both through administrative permitting rules and states laws — have been whittled away for years by massive retailers, big-box chains and gas stations that want to sell alcohol with as few restrictions as possible ...

... So do Hoosiers support selling alcohol everywhere, anytime by anyone? It just isn’t so. If this was a true advocacy movement with real consumers behind it, we doubt we’d be having this argument year after year.

Coming soon to a Hoosier legislature near you: Sunday alcohol sales, with huge question mark attached ...

Sikich's overview is one of the best I've read, given that  "booze on Sunday" in America is more totem for tribalism than topic for dispassionate discussion. The author duly notes the Sunday exceptions for Indiana's breweries and wineries. I might add that while the Brewers of Indiana Guild has interest in a few bits of legislation possibly being considered in 2013, this isn't one of them.

As a guild director, believe me when I say that we have our own side of the street to work -- and we're doing so. This particular issue isn't our fight.

Speaking personally, part of me is eternally annoyed that "moral" considerations as defined by religious interests should be a part of the Sunday equation. Another part entirely understands that small independent business will suffer if big boxes go into Sunday sales. I'm forever willing to sock it to the preachers and health fascists, and at the same time, giving an inch to mega-retail is odious to my own inner moral structure.

When I'm declared dictator, it's an easy call: Let the indie package stores open if they wish, and keep the chains shut. Then again, some might say I'm an extremist. In the end, Senator Alting probably is right: Change will be incremental, in bits and pieces, because such hesitancy truly reflects a state of division.

Need I add: Support your local breweries and wineries. That's the best solution, and it beats the Silver Bullet every damned time.

Sunday liquor sales battle brewing: An effort is afoot to change Indiana's law, but owners of liquor stores say the move would be devastating, by Chris Sikich (IndyStar)

Indiana is the toughest place in the nation to buy take-home beer or liquor on Sundays.

While most states limit Sunday alcohol sales in some ways, Hoosiers face the broadest restrictions.

Indiana prohibits Sunday sales of beer, wine and liquor at grocery and packaged liquor stores. Connecticut lifted a similar ban in May, leaving Indiana standing alone.

The longtime ban has remained in place for religious and economic reasons. And though it has been eroded somewhat in recent years, state lawmakers trying to do away with the ban this year aren't hopeful.

Indiana's lingering legislative blue law fetish dooms Sunday off-premise alcohol sales in Indiana ...

... except for small breweries and wineries.

It amazes me that our Indy-centric legislators prattle endlessly about economic development, and at the same time, never seem to understand that drinkers living on state borders travel to where they can spend their money on Sunday, namely surrounding states.

Also, Indiana's legislative contingent continues to endorse the doltish notion that it's better to go to a bar on Sunday to drink, and then drive home, as opposed to taking the alcohol home to drink.

And then there is Rep. Davis's comment to the effect that six days in a week is enough to buy alcoholic beverages. The same might be said for groceries and restaurants; if you plan ahead and buy supplies earlier in the week, do you really need to go anywhere at all on Sunday? Why permit any shop or store to open on Sunday, according to this reasoning? Is it 2012, or 1812?

Of course, Rep. Davis's blue-law-friendly internal rationalization is not how it works in real life -- and increasingly, real life is a place that few of these political dullards seem to inhabit, although Ideologyland is fairly bursting at the seams.

Sunday alcohol sales dead in Legislature, by Maureen Hayden (CNHI Statehouse Bureau)

INDIANAPOLIS — Depending on what happens in the Sunday-dry state of Connecticut, Indiana could soon become the last state in the nation with a Sunday ban on alcohol sales.

Legislative leaders in the Indiana General Assembly have decided against scheduling committee hearings on a bill that would have lifted the decades-old prohibition on the Sunday sale of alcohol for off-premise consumption.

Their decision effectively kills the bill.

“Surely we can buy enough alcohol in this state six days a week that we don’t need a seventh day to do it,” said state Rep. Bill Davis, the Republican chair of House Committee on Public Policy where the bill had been assigned.

Support HB1093, to support artisanal Hoosier beer & wine sales at the Indiana State Fair.

The Hoosier Beer Geeks published this note from Anita Johnson (owner of the Great Fermentations homebrewing supply shop in Indianapolis). I echo the sentiment, and ask that Indiana readers drop a note to the representatives listed below. You can use the link to find your district's representative.

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I usually do not ask the Great Fermentations customer base to support my charities or causes but because we have a shared interest in beer and wine, I am writing to ask for your help.

There is a bill before the Indiana House of Representatives, HB1093, which would change Indiana law to finally allow beer and wine to be sold at the fairgrounds during the Indiana State Fair. Preference would be given to our Indiana-based commercial brewers and winemakers. The fair is committed to responsible consumption by allowing beer and wine to be served and consumed only in designated “beer gardens” and not allowing over consumption to ruin the family atmosphere of the fair.

I whole-heartedly support this bill because I enjoy the fair. The additional revenue generated by alcohol sales will help to close recent reductions in the fair budget. But more importantly it will support and promote Indiana brewers and winemakers from across the state.

Unfortunately there is some opposition to even hearing the bill before the house committee. Representative Bill Davis of Jay County does not want to allow the bill to come to committee. If you agree with this bill, would you take a moment to email Rep. Davis, Rep. Brian Bosma and your own representative and let them know you not only support the hearing but the passage of this bill this year. Time is of the essence because the proposed hearing is Tuesday, February 1st.

I have included some suggested text if you want to copy and paste into an email or get inspired and write your own. You can find email addresses for all of state representatives here:

http://www.in.gov/cgi-bin/legislative/contact/contact.pl

For Representative Bosma:
I would like to ask you to encourage Rep. Davis about hearing HB1093 regarding allowing Indiana made beer and wine to be served on the fairgrounds during the Indiana State Fair. Because this will add revenue to the fair and support Indiana based businesses I see it as a win for the state.

For Representative Davis:
I would like to encourage you to bring HB 1093 before your committee. This bill addresses the availability of Indiana made beer and wine at the Indiana State Fair. Because this will add revenue to the fair and support Indiana based businesses I see it as a win for the state. The fair is committed to responsible consumption by allowing beer and wine to be served and consumed only in designated “beer gardens” and not allowing over consumption to ruin the family atmosphere of the fair. And I whole-heartedly support the bill and hope you will too.