Brian Howey column: Cold beer here in the age of Amazon
Here’s how the American Conservative observes our straddling the centuries, with C. Jarrett Dieterle citing the “missed opportunity to reform the state’s infamous ‘cold beer law’” while underscoring “the cronyist forces Indiana reformers are up against” when the General Assembly and Gov. Eric Holcomb clamped down on Ricker’s which found a loophole to sell cold beer along with its convenience store tacos and burritos.
Dieterle continues, “Although nearly every state has outdated and arcane alcohol laws, Indiana’s cold beer law stands out as one of the most bizarre.”
According to an Associated Press analysis, liquor-store interests have contributed more than $750,000 to Indiana lawmakers since 2010, underscoring the power they were able to exert in the state capitol. Dieterle notes: One lawmaker even stated that voting to revoke Ricker’s ability to sell cold beer ‘goes against every grain in my free market body,’ but then turned around and voted for the legislation anyway.He concludes: “Rather than spending their time defending anachronistic laws and targeting convenience stores that want to sell cold beer, Indiana should fix its booze laws. After all, no one likes warm beer.”
