‘Bourbon trail’ House bill awaits Pence’s signature

Indiana might soon have its own bourbon trail.  

The Indiana Senate passed House Bill 1293, which allows for craft micro-distilleries to operate and sell liquor on location. The bill, which passed 38-9, will now move to Gov. Mike Pence’s desk to be signed into law.

The bill creates a distiller’s permit for a person who decides to commercially manufacture a maximum of 10,000 gallons of liquor in a year.

Neighboring states, including Illinois, Michigan and Ohio allow distilleries to sell alcohol on-site, and Kentucky includes the bourbon trail. Distilleries in Indiana can only produce hard alcohol for wholesale distribution.

Huber’s Orchard, Winery and Vineyards in Starlight, Ind., and Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis both plan to open micro-distilleries.

The Senate revised the bill to allow start-up distilleries to avoid the three-year waiting period for a permit.

Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, author of HB 1293, said the bill came from Huber’s, which is located just outside of his district.

“They have not been able to offer tasting or offer sale by the bottle or any other distilled spirit,” Clare said. “They saw this as an opportunity to grow their business by allowing for tasting and sales of other types of distilled spirits other than brandy.”

Ted Huber, owner of Huber’s, said he has been advocating allowing micro-distilling of grain-based products since 1998.

“This will allow us to get grain spirits,” Huber said. “It’s a great way for us to naturally expand our product portfolio in an existing distillery.”

Huber said, in 2001, Farm Winery Brandy Distiller’s Permits were established in Indiana. As a result, Huber opened Starlight Distillery, a brandy-based
micro-distillery.

“The little craft spirits I started in 2001 gives a lot of people at the Statehouse that little Starlight Distillery can be a tourist attraction without providing access to minors,” he said.

Clere said the industry has been held back by the inability to offer tastings, which promotes tourism.

Nominally, it’s an alcohol bill,” Clere said. “It’s really an economic development and jobs bill. It’s all about tourism and small business and value-added agriculture and finding a new way to support and promote all three of those objectives.”

Omar Robinson, president and owner of Sun King Brewing, said adding a micro-distillery is a natural adjunct to his business.

“It’s outstanding for our business,” Robinson said. “We’ve been hoping and planning on distilling now for a couple of years, and now we have the ability to do it.”

Robinson said his brewery plans on offering homemade bourbons, vodkas, whiskeys and various house items.

He also said a micro-distillery would benefit his brewery because Easley Winery is in close proximity.

“If we can put a distillery in the same neighborhood, then we have the possibility of advertising for tourism as a fermentation district,” Robinson said. “It makes a nice neighborhood of things for people to see and do.”

Robinson said micro-distilling is a natural extension of craft brewing.

“It will make a whole separate clientele,” Robinson said. “This will just give us another avenue to reach the public in Indiana. We are dedicated to selling our product in Indiana and not reaching into other states.”

Clere said Indiana is in a good position geographically by being close to a well-established connection such as the bourbon trail.

“I think there’s an opportunity to capture some of that traffic, as folks who are interested in the bourbon trail may decide to cross the river and see what’s going on in Indiana,” Clere said.

The tourism business, he said, will grow up around distilling in Indiana in the same way tourism has followed the wineries and breweries.

“It’s an incremental process to change things,” Clere said. “It happens with wine, then it happens with beer and now it happens with distilled spirits. Some would say it’s overdue. I’m just glad it’s happening now.”