Recent law changes could lead to packaged beer sales at Indiana Beer Festivals

I have had some amazing beers at Indiana Beer Festivals I may never get to try again, and that sucks! There have been breweries like Iechyd Da located in Elkhart and Rhinegeist in Cincinnati that are not available in Indianapolis (yet) who make some great brews. However, as of July 1, 2015 the code that originally prohibited packaged beer sales at festivals has changed!  There are some stipulations that must be met in order for a brewery to take advantage of this change, and the entity that runs the festival could still have rules against it, but it has changed!

In the past, breweries have been limited to swag sales when they participate in Indiana beer festivals. Last year at the Brewers of Indiana Guild (BIG) Winterfest I was unable to purchase glassware from the breweries because of a rule put into place by BIG. The rule was a safety measure because broken glass and a large group of drunken craft beer lovers could lead to safety issues. Rules put in place for a festival can supersede the Indiana Code and limit what can be purchased. The reason I bring this up is I recently visited the Winterfest page on the BIG website and noticed a comment from BIG that brewers are not permitted to sell beer at Winterfest this year, but may be allowed to in the future.

On July 1, 2015 a change went into effect allowing brewers to sell packaged beer at an event with a festival permit. This code was not extended to the ATC temporary beer and wine permits. Since I am not an expert at reading and understanding law documents I reached out to the Indiana ATC, Excise Police, and a lawyer to try and make sure I didn’t miss anything.

A revised version of Section 7.1-3-2-7 (IC 7.1 – Title 7.1 Alcohol and Tobacco) is listed below. For the entire document visit https://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2015/ic/:
IC 7.1-3-2-7
Scope of permit
Sec. 7. The holder of a brewer’s permit or an out-of-state brewer holding either a primary source of supply permit or an out-of-state brewer’s permit may do the following:

• (5) If the brewer manufactures, at all of the brewer’s breweries located in Indiana, an aggregate of not more than ninety thousand (90,000) barrels of beer in a calendar year for sale or distribution within Indiana, the permit holder may do the following:
  • ​(J) With the approval of the commission, participate:
    • (ii) with other permit holders under this chapter; in a trade show or an exposition at which products of each permit holder participant are displayed, promoted, and sold. The commission may not grant to a holder of a permit under this chapter approval under this clause to participate in a trade show or exposition for more than forty-five (45) days in a calendar year.