• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Indiana finally gets Sunday beer sales but allows liquor stores to keep cold beer sales monopoly

March 7, 2018Keith Gribbins

Indiana beer sale laws
Cold beer sales. The biggest grift in Indiana alcohol.

The Hoosier State continues its slow march toward modernizing its alcohol laws. This past Sunday, Indiana finally allowed Sunday beer sales. Hosanna. Of course, the new law only allows businesses to sell alcohol from noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays (sales are 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. every other day), but it feels like a win for folks looking to buy beer and beyond in the crossroads of America.

Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1051 repealed the state’s Prohibition ban on Sunday alcohol sales at liquor, grocery, drug and convenience stores. The law was spurred by an alliance/compromise between the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers (the liquor stores) and the Indiana Retail Council (big box grocers), but these two groups and their members also conspired to make sure cold beer laws would not be expanded, which basically ensures a monopoly for liquor stores which are the only venues allowed to sell cold beer in Indiana. From the IndyStar:

While the once-warring parties to the agreement hailed it as a landmark alliance to forcefully push for Sunday sales, convenience store owners blasted it as a back-room deal too narrow to merit consideration by the state legislature.

“They are cutting a deal which greatly benefits themselves, at the expense of Hoosiers who have identified the cold beer prohibition as the No. 1 alcohol reform needed in the state,” said Scot Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association. “At the end of the day, it’s not the self-serving deal between the big-box stores and the liquor stores that’s the problem,” he said, “It’s the raw deal they are giving to consumers.”

It truly is embarrassing that Indiana is the only state to regulate the sale of beer by temperature, and it’s been a point of contention for years along with Sunday beer sales. The IndyStar has even published a series of stories that tracked the seedy tactics of liquor stores to prevent Sunday sales and protect their cold beer empire. The Indiana General Assembly has a commission to study the issue as well, but change is slow in Indy, so we’re not holding our collective breath. Of course, it could be worse:

Congrats, Indiana. Just be thankful your legislature doesn’t have #Alabama‘s obsession with local laws where each county, town, school district, police jurisdiction, and city block might have Sunday sales for off-premise, on-premise, etc.https://t.co/tmsmrO2RoP

— AL Brewers Guild (@alabamabrewers) March 6, 2018

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the Sunday beer sales bill into law on Feb. 28, and stores began selling this past Sunday. In a nice sidebar: Holcomb pulled some 3 Floyds Brewing Co. beer off the shelf for his first purchase (some Gumballhead it looks like). Watch it below.

Cheers to a great first day of #SundaySales buying @3floyds and picking up some @GunthorpFarms pork chops at @GoosetheMarket. pic.twitter.com/Vj9hgLYmz4

— Eric Holcomb (@GovHolcomb) March 4, 2018

Dan Bagley and Bob Chicoine
A plan comes together: After a petition, zoning changes, Connecticut is getting a waterfront brewery
brewing lawsuit
Subsidiary of Boston Beer Co. fined $1 million for sales of unregistered beer and malt beverage
Growler-decisions
Here’s an update on Michigan’s new growler laws, which are easing licensing requirements
texas craft beer law
How a controversial bill in Texas will increase costs for large craft breweries

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Breweries that host RV travelers via Harvest Hosts can earn some extra cash
  • Joyride Brewing’s anniversary block party is going to be pretty rad, includes friendly collab competition
  • The wheeled Perlick Mobile Tap is a cool new roving beer station
  • A behind the scenes look at branding a startup brewery

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • A behind the scenes look at branding a startup brewery
    June 28, 2022
  • robot beer salesThe future of retail beer sales is here
    June 27, 2022
  • Sapporo to acquire Stone Brewing, that one brewery that kept saying it wasn’t interested in selling out
    June 24, 2022
  • Reebok-x-Rec-2Harpoon collaborates with Reebok, Elysian reveals new tarot labels and more beers to know this week
    June 23, 2022
  • Carlsberg announces largest test trial of its fully recyclable Fiber Bottles (Mads Mikkelsen’s a fan)
    June 22, 2022
  • Strategic Partnership HandshakeHarpoon parent company buys Long Trail Brewing brands
    June 21, 2022

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2022 · CBB Media LLC

Posting....