I’m having company over to watch the Colts game today. Yesterday, I noticed I only had two beers left in the refrigerator. It’s not likely to be much of a drinking affair, for all I know, two beers is enough — but hospitality would seem to dictate I have at least a couple more available. So, I stopped by the liquor store on Saturday and picked up a six pack of Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout to add to the stock. No big deal, really.
However, it’s annoying that it’s not an option to make a beer run during half-time if necessary. Indiana’s blue laws prohibit liquor sales on Sundays. I’ve heard that this has its roots, not only in a more religious time, but also in a more racist time in the early 20th century where such laws were seen as a way to stick it to the Papists. Now, these laws mainly hang around because of inertia and because they benefit certain members of the liquor industry.
Bill Ruthhart, writing for the Indianapolis Star, has an article on a poll showing that Hoosiers are warming up to the idea of liquor sales on Sundays.
The poll showed 46 percent of Hoosiers support changing that law while 45 percent favor keeping it. Another 9 percent were undecided.
That shows a slight move from two years ago when a poll conducted by The Star found that 50 percent of Hoosiers favored the Sunday ban while 43 percent opposed it.
Thomas at Blue Indiana had a post on the subject yesterday. Notable in that post and in the initial story is the objection of liquor store owners who feel that lifting the prohibition would put them at a disadvantage with more general retailers like grocery stores. Sunday sales of the liquor stores, they say, wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the cost of paying employees and the overhead of staying open on Sunday. The grocery stores are open anyway. To the extent this is true, I find myself unmoved. As I noted over in the Blue Indiana comments:
Mom & Pop Liquor stores don’t exactly fill me with nostalgia. If Sunday liquor sales drove them out of business, I don’t think the loss would really diminish our communities a lot — the way I think they are diminished to some extent when small downtown retailers end up knuckling under to Wal-mart.
I suppose my attitude would be different if most small liquor stores were places where a wider variety of beer and wine were stocked and the owner was on duty most times and was very knowledgeable about beers and wines. But that has not been my experience — for the most part, these liquor stores end up being somewhat sad places, staffed by low wage, short-term employees and mostly just stocking the most mass produced beers and wines.
In those that lead to an exchange about imports versus Indiana beers. So, here is a plug for the Hoosier Beer Geek, a great way to keep up on the local beer scene.
When I moved to Houston after graduating from college in 1982, I found that they still had blue laws. All of the malls were closed and the only stores that were open were the grocery stores. The aisles with the liquor were obviously roped off as well as those aisles which contained stuff like pots, pans and tools. It seemed that anything which might allow someone to do anything other than eat or pray was off limits. There was great rejoicing in 1985 when those rules were finally lifted.
They sold beer and some liquor at convenience stores in Ohio when I lived there (still do, I assume). During those times they weren’t allowed to sell alcohol, they’d lock those refrigerator cases. One night, a buddy of mine came back with, like, Schnapps and Wild Irish Rose. He said he’d reached his arm in from a non-alcohol refrigerator, grabbed the first two bottles he could manage, and just walked by the cashier, throwing a $20 on the counter, mumbling “keep the change.”
He figured the minimum wage clerk had the choice between pocketing a little extra money or spending the evening messing with police and paperwork.
Doug, I wouldn’t venture a guess on whether the Bells Kalamazoo Stout was a hit with your guests or not, but I KNOW the outcome of the game had to be to your liking!!!
Go Colts!! Sweet!
Success on all accounts. Colts are now in the #5 playoff position (1st wildcard spot), if my math is right. They hold the tie breaker against both the Ravens and the Patriots. Actually, I don’t know how the tie breakers work against the Dolphins, also at 6-4.
It’s not all that long ago, relatively speaking, that it was illegal to buy tampons or sanitary napkins on Sundays.
Indiana is a quirky place.
Bell’s is an awesome brewery. Nothing better for the beer afficianado to go to their brewery store in Kalamazoo and assemble six-packs of their various brews.
If you love hops, they have an amazing bit of overkill they call the ‘Hopslam’. It lives up to its’ name, to be sure.
I am sadly behind on my Hoosier brew education, so thanks for the link to the Hoosier Beer Geek!
In Germany discussing brews usually is an attempt to match a certain beer with what’s being served for dinner. In the same way wine is matched to what is being served at table in France.The USA is unique in that beer still is basically a man’s socializing drink ,epecially at or watching sports events.But that’s also how beer is advertized.
In parts of Germany,they put fruit (like peaches) in beer,which you have to dip out and eat with a spoon. In France they add syropy stuff sometimes like grenadine to beer,which turns the beer red and makes it sweet.
I still remember my amazement as a young man in Europe seeing ‘old ladies’ sitting at table drinking huge steins of beer at table.That just wasn’t done over in Central Illinois where I mostly grew up.
And now Americans have voted in a black man as president.Some things evolve faster than others.
We have the same blue laws here in FL. Actually Bell’s is my favorite brewery.