Get your Sunday alcohol sales facts straight, Grant Monahan.

I suppose Grant Monahan, who earns his living lobbying for big box retailers, submitted this letter to every remaining newspaper editor in the state, so it would be nice for him (or, more likely, his ghostwriter) to follow it up with a retraction, in the sense that Sunday "carryout sales for consumption at home" is not a blanket prohibition, and Indiana consumers actually do have a choice, which I'll now reiterate for perhaps the 1,001st time.

Craft breweries and farm wineries in Indiana may vend their wares "to go" on Sunday. Thank you.

Monahan's downtown Indianapolis office, which is located within easy fluffing distance of the statehouse complex, also lies very close to more than one brewery selling house-brewed, carry-out adult beverages on Sunday.

Open your eyes, douchebag.

Retail leader pushes for Sunday alcohol sales

The logic behind allowing Sunday sales in Indiana is simple. It gives consumers a choice and makes their lives more convenient. Sunday has become the second biggest shopping day of the week, but because of our archaic laws, Hoosiers are prohibited from purchasing a consumer product that is legal to buy responsibly six days a week, but not on Sunday. It also gives retailers a choice. They can choose to sell alcohol on Sunday or they can choose not to do so. Like consumers, the choice is theirs.

Indiana is the only state in the U.S. that allows the sale of alcohol by the drink at bars, restaurants and sports venues on Sunday yet prohibits carryout sales for consumption at home. Every one of our surrounding states gives consumers the choice, but not Indiana.

— Grant Monahan, president, the Indiana Retail Council, Indianapolis.

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.

Legislative libations 2: Sunday alcohol sales, with a huge question mark attached ...

Chris Sikich of the IndyStar provides an overview of this year's model, i.e., Sunday alcohol sales legislation, and it's one of the best pieces I've read on the topic, given that  "booze on Sunday" in America is a far more predictable harbinger of tribalism than a topic for dispassionate discussion.

Sikich duly notes recent Sunday carry-out exceptions for Indiana's small breweries, and the long-standing exemption for small 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.
Disclaimers aside, and speaking only personally, part of me is eternally annoyed that "moral" considerations as defined by religious interests should be a part of the Sunday equation at this late date. Another part entirely understands that small independent business surely will suffer if big boxes go into Sunday sales. I'm forever willing to sock it to the preachers and health fascists, but at the same time, giving an inch to mega-retail chain-think is odious to my own inner moral structure.

When I'm declared dictator, it's an easy call: Let the indie package stores open on Sundays if they wish, and keep the chains shut tight. 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 in the state of Indiana.

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

C-J on microbrewery Sunday carry-out sales.

I don't think the photo makes Matt look bad at all.

Microbrewers in Indiana hail end of ban on takeout sales on Sunday, by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener (Courier-Journal).

The change essentially puts microbreweries in the same category as wineries, treating both more like tourist attractions than alcohol vendors such as liquor stores, bars and other locations that continue to be banned from selling takeout beer, wine or liquor on Sundays.

Senate Bill 75 update.

Here's an update on Senate Bill 75, formerly known as the bill to enable Sunday carry-out sales by craft brewers, now (it appears) with Bills 118 & 119 appended to it. Like 75, both of the other bills have passed the Senate. The first removes sales restrictions during polling hours, and the second adjusts Sunday sales hours. Jason from the Hoosier Beer Geek blog has the news: Senate Bill 75 - SUPERSIZED!

Word from our statehouse presence is that the bill gets its 15 minutes of House committee time on Wednesday morning. Exact procedures elude me, but I'll be there. In fact, NABC will attend-and-vend at two legislative receptions on Tuesday night, the first held by the state Chamber of Commerce, and the second for the legislature's African-American caucus. Looks like an overnight stay for the sales gang.

Round One to craft brewers in Indiana: SB 75 passes in committee.

Previously at NAC: “It’s a tourism issue and it’s a specialty item and it’s a true art.”

I intended to comment on SB 75 earlier, did so to some degree during a discussion of Election Day sales legislation, but didn't finish my thoughts. So ...

SB 75 passed in Indiana Senate committee on Wednesday afternoon, with a vote of 9-2. Senators Zakas and Delph dissented, the latter appending a statement of principle to his "nay", but with the former, who did not speak his mind on the bill, remaining silent. Sorry, but I find it hard to respect silence.

Interestingly, during my brief testimony before the committee, Senator Waltz (he voted "yes") jokingly asked me: "Have you at any time, or are you now, a Hoosier Beer Geek?" I responded in the affirmative, and wished I'd worn my "These Machines Kill Fascists" shirt, or at least brought a facsimile of Woody Guthrie's guitar. I have a feeling that neither Delph nor Zakas would have appreciated it, and that fact makes me almost as happy as Imperial Stout on a sub-zero afternoon.

My brief comments were restricted to elaborating on the joys of watching Hoosier tax revenue travel to Kentucky for deposit each and every Sunday of my working career, and seeing micros in Kentucky sell growlers on a day that we cannot.

Fear not: The Brewers of Indiana Guild made a strong case for relief based on parity with craft wineries (which can sell wine to go on Sunday), the artisanal nature of craft beer, the local impact of small business, the integral part that we've played in various downtown revivals, and the fact that tourism for the sake of craft beer is not a laughing matter at all. Among others, Senator Taylor noted that his mind had been changed by the strength of the presentation, and although Bud Light's still good enough for him, he can see the point and agrees with it.

That's good, because we're going to need both strong argumentation and a measure of plain good luck. In essence, we must sidestep the mega-lobbyists' current battle royale over the issue of Sunday carry-out sales in general, as it pertains to package stores, groceries and other macro-entities, and keep the topic restricted to microbrewing in particular, and our special position as artisans. As a guild, we don't have dogs in those fights, and we need to keep it that way.

Senators Simpson and Alting are powerful advocates of common sense, but they have rightly vowed to kill our bill if outside interests hijack it with amendments. There's no benefit to anyone hijacking it, but then again, politics isn't about logic. Conceivably, any grandstanding moralist in the Senate could amend the bill, and if a procedural appeal to remove the amendment is rejected, succeed in maneuvering us into keeping our word and removing it sans a vote on the actual merits.

Will that happen? As Frank Zappa once said, "I figure the odds be 50/50."

If SB 75 makes it through the Senate next week, the process begins anew in the House with another bill, another hearing, another vote, and if all that comes down, a reconciliation of the two. I may have the order of movement wrong, but it shows that we've only just begun the process.

On the local front, both Connie Sipes (Senate) and Ed Clere (House) have indicated support. I appreciate that, and I'm sure that Professor Erika does not, although I can promise local teabaggers (and fleabaggers) that Sunday growler sales will not lead to new TIF areas or to any reason why Steve Price might start drinking better beer.

The coverage of the committee hearing on Indianapolis' WISH-8 is fairly good, and can be viewed and read here.

“It’s a tourism issue and it’s a specialty item and it’s a true art.”

Yes, yes ... and yes.

By way of the C-J, the Associated Press surveys the Indiana legislature’s progress toward alcohol law changes. One in particular would impact my brewing business.

The study committee also voted against allowing microbreweries — smaller establishments that have limits on how much beer they can make each year — to sell their beer for takeout on Sundays.

But Republican Sen. Ron Alting of Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Public Policy Committee, has filed a bill that would allow such sales. He plans to give it a hearing before his panel.

Alting noted that farm wineries in Indiana are allowed to sell their products for takeout on Sundays and said microbreweries should have the same privilege.

“It’s a tourism issue and it’s a specialty item and it’s a true art,” Alting said.

I've never met Sen. Alting, but his quote above eloquently summarizes why there is no logical reason for using different sets of rules for small wineries and small breweries. Furthermore, rules governing artisanal production of beer and wine are not cut from the same cloth as those governing package store and othe retail Sunday sales.

The Indiana legislature has the opportunity in 2010 to balance this particular playing field, and NABC will have a team on the ground in Indianapolis this Wednesday to join the Brewers of Indiana Guild at the statehouse to meet elected officials and make the point in person. If you agree with me -- in fact, even if you don't -- please contact Rep. Ed Clere and Sen. Connie Sipes and let them know.