Microbreweries fight for winery rights

Hoosiers still can’t buy alcohol on Sundays from the local supermarket, but a sliver of hope remains for beer buffs.   

A bill introduced by State Sens. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, and Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, would allow microbreweries to sell takeout beer on Sundays. The bill passed 41-9 in the Indiana Senate on Jan. 21 and is awaiting a vote from the House, which could vote sometime this week.  

The bill would also limit the customer to buying three cases at most for each shopping spree. The idea of the bill is to put microbreweries on par with farm wineries (meaning they grow their own grapes), which received rights to takeout transactions on Sundays in 1986.

Simpson stressed the economic boost the bill will give local brewers and said it will help increase tourism within the state.

“I felt this bill was important to give those small, local brewers the same opportunity as local wineries to offer sales of their product,” Simpson said. “This is a narrow measure that will only allow microbreweries operating here in Indiana to sell their own product for carryout in limited amounts on Sundays. Microbreweries are part of the tourism economy in Indiana, and they help bring visitors into communities where the
microbreweries exist.”

There are 32 microbreweries in Indiana, two of which are located in Bloomington. Upland Brewery head brewer Caleb Staton said if the bill passes he thinks the store would definitely see an increase in revenue, but it would be a small part of all the state’s blue laws, which are designed to enforce moral standards, especially on the Sabbath.

“I think we would get an uptake in the grand scheme of things. We wouldn’t become bombarded,” Staton said. “It’s less money motivated than it is in the grand scheme of refreshing Indiana law.”

Farm wineries, such as Oliver Winery, have been selling takeout alcohol for years, and
microbreweries should be able to do the same, he said. “We should have the same privilege ... to allow our customers to purchase what they taste,” Staton said. “They were ahead of it 10 years ago; we’re going to see the same situation today. Indiana breweries deserve the same benefits.”

Besides revenue, the new legislation will hopefully be a boost to the state’s economy. Bloomington Brewing Company founder and CEO Jeff Mease said his company is supportive for a number of reasons.

“The main one is craft breweries are important to the state’s tourism,” Mease said. “Small breweries, they’re sort of a lightning rod, so it’s a lot of tourism that
probably happens on the weekends.”

Mease said people come to breweries and want to take products home with them, and the money is especially important because breweries’ revenue goes straight back into the local economy.

“It has so many more times the value for the community, just because of the nature where the money goes,” he said. “A lot of the other small costs all going to local businesses keep spinning around the community.”

Mease compared his business to a larger company like Walmart, where the money virtually vacates the scene, he said. He also said people should start to recognize the value of trying to keep money local.

Indiana is conservative in regards to Sunday alcohol sales, but Mease said small steps are being taken to change legislation regarding this issue.

“Alcohol laws and drug laws, all sorts of vice laws are really grounded deeply in religion, that’s where the political will to create a lot of these came from,” he said. “Things of this nature are slow to change.”

But Mease remains hopeful the bill will pass.

“We think it’s a got a good shot,” Mease said. “Tourism helps cross cultures and just makes the whole world better. It’s a good, good thing.”