When visitors tour Indiana wineries on a Sunday afternoon, not only can they sample the wine, they can take some home.

Now, Indiana’s microbreweries say it’s time their visitors were given the same opportunity.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild is lobbying lawmakers to allow its microbreweries to sell beer on Sunday, an important day for tourism.

“You can’t market yourself for tourism if on one of the busiest days, your customers can’t take anything with them,” said Ted Miller, owner of the Brugge Brasserie brewery in Broad Ripple and president of the guild.

“We’re all tiny guys,” he said. “We’re all small brewers. We’re mom and pops who want to be able to get people into our breweries, sell them a little beer.”

The small brewers have a legislative ally but a very large obstacle: Their push very well might be swallowed up by a much bigger debate on the issue of Sunday alcohol sales.

Big-box retailers, convenience shops and grocery stores have launched their own intensive lobbying offensive to allow Sunday carryout sales, currently banned by state law, in advance of the upcoming legislative session.

Earlier this year, a legislative study committee recommended against that effort.

More significantly to the brewers guild, the committee also voted against backing the brewery sales. The discussion didn’t focus on the merits of the breweries as a tourism business, however, but on concerns that consideration of that bill could open up a greater discussion about Sunday sales.

As a result, Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, recommended lawmakers steer clear of the microbrewery issue to avoid any chance of a larger fight over Sunday sales. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Trent VanHaaften, D-Mount Vernon, agreed.

“It’s all about timing,” said Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, who supports Sunday sales for microbreweries. “The timing is not favorable for them right now, because of the big-box stores wanting to have Sunday sales, too.”

Still, Alting said he would introduce a bill for the microbreweries in the upcoming legislative session and plans to hear it in the Senate Commerce and Public Policy Committee he chairs. He said he’d ask fellow lawmakers and lobbyists not to amend it to apply to any other issue — especially Sunday sales at grocery and convenience stores.

“I’ll ask them to keep the bill clean, and if they don’t, then I’ll kill the bill,” he said. “I’m going to ask them to respect the right of the microbreweries.”

The breweries hope to separate themselves from the larger debate by arguing that they, like wineries, are tourist destinations that draw visitors and money to the state.

Many microbreweries offer tours of their brewing facilities, but unlike wineries, the state’s microbreweries can’t effectively market themselves as a tourist destination, Miller said.

“You can’t do a brewery tour,” Miller said, “without selling beer.”

Many of the state’s microbreweries have adjacent restaurants or pubs that can sell their beer on site on Sundays. But the state’s brewery owners say many who tour their facilities want to purchase beer to take home.

While those additional sales would be nice, the additional marketing and exposure that comes with a visitor taking home their beer and sharing it with others is what Miller and brewers such as Blaine Stuckey are after.

“You can’t believe how many people who come from out of town to hit breweries, and it is destination-driven,” said Stuckey, president of Fort Wayne-based Mad Anthony Brewing Co. He estimates that 10 percent of his business comes from tourists.

“If it’s working for wineries,” he said, “it’s got to be a great step for Indiana breweries.”

Indiana’s brewery business has been on the rise for several years, following a national trend.

Despite the economic recession that continues to grind on, microbreweries’ business continues to grow nationwide, according to statistics from the Brewers Association of America. In the first half of 2009, the industry grew 5 percent by volume and 9 percent in dollars.

Indiana has been later to the game than many states, ranking No. 28 nationwide for the number of breweries per capita, producing 35,000 barrels — or 70,000 kegs — per year. Each of the state’s 32 breweries is allowed to produce as many as 20,000 barrels per year and still qualify for a lower state tax rate.

“These breweries are not only destinations, but what they do is a true art,” said Alting, the Lafayette lawmaker. “They make it on site, in house and there’s no beer like it anywhere else, and that’s why there’s no comparison to that and allowing someone to take home a case of Budweiser from Kroger on a Sunday, but that’s what’s holding it up.”

Lisa Hutcheson, however, says there is one important similarity: Whether it’s a big box, a grocer or a microbrewery, expanding sales comes with consequences.

“Anytime laws are expanded in this area — whether it’s allowing a winery to have carryout sales on Sunday or allowing Sunday sales everywhere — you’re inevitably going to increase access to minors in some way,” said Hutcheson, director of the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. "They talk about tourism and competing with wineries, and I have no doubt about any of that, but it’s a slippery slope.

“Once you allow it for one, more will follow.”

Hoosier brews

Here’s a list of Indiana’s 32 microbreweries and their locations:

Alcatraz Brewing Co. — Indianapolis.

Back Road Brewery — LaPorte.

Barley Island Brewing — Noblesville.

Bee Creek Brewery — Brazil.

Big Woods Brewing — Nashville.

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse — Greenwood.

Bloomington Brewing — Bloomington.

Brickworks Brewing — Hobart.

Broad Ripple Brewpub — Indianapolis.

Brugge Brasserie — Indianapolis.

Crown Brewing — Crown Point.

Figure Eight Brewing — Valparaiso.

Granite City Food and Brewery — Fort Wayne.

Great Crescent Brewery — Aurora.

Half Moon Restaurant and Brewery — Kokomo.

Lafayette Brewing — Lafayette.

Lil’ Charlie’s Restaurant&Brewery — Batesville.

Mad Anthony Brewing — Fort Wayne, Auburn, Warsaw, Elkhart.

Mishawaka Brewing — Mishawaka.

New Albanian Brewing — New Albany.

Oaken Barrel Brewing — Greenwood.

People’s Brewing — Lafayette.

Power House Brewing — Columbus.

RAM Restaurant and Brewery — Indianapolis, Fishers.

Rock Bottom Brewery — Indianapolis.

Shoreline Brewery — Michigan City.

Sun King Brewery — Indianapolis.

Three Floyds Brewing — Munster.

Turoni’s Main Street Brewery — Evansville.

Upland Brewing — Bloomington.

Vigo Brewing Co. — Terre Haute.

Wabash Valley Malt Beverage Co. — Terre Haute.

Source: Brewers of Indiana Guild

For more information, visit www.brewersofindianaguild.com.