Capping a years-long court battle, justices held that overlapping ownership between Monarch Beverage Co. and Spirited Sales LLC should keep the latter from getting a state permit to wholesale liquor.
The Indianapolis-based alcohol wholesaler had challenged Indiana laws that prevent beer wholesalers from also selling liquor.
Spirited Sales and the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission are at odds in a lawsuit that could decide whether Indiana beer and wine wholesalers can also legally sell liquor.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he will ask the Indiana Supreme Court to put on hold a lower court ruling that said the state must grant a wholesaler permit to Spirited Sales LLC, a company affiliated with Monarch Beverage that wants to sell liquor.
The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission has granted Spirited Sales a temporary permit to sell wholesale liquor after a Marion County special judge denied the state’s request for a stay on her August ruling for the company.
A Marion County judge’s ruling has heated up the battle between liquor distributors and a group of beer distributors operating in the state and Indianapolis-based beer wholesaler Monarch Beverage Co.
The battle between a Monarch Beverage Co. affiliate and liquor wholesalers in the state is the latest reminder that the Legislature should bring into the modern era state statutes that govern the sale of alcoholic beverages.
The state has requested a stay of a Marion County judge’s ruling last week that opens the door for a Monarch Beverage affiliate to enter the liquor-wholesaling business.
The court decision found the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission was “arbitrary and capricious” in its 2014 decision to deny the wholesale liquor permit application of Spirited Sales, an affiliate of Monarch Beverage Co. It also takes the Pence and Daniels gubernatorial administrations to task for intervening in the case.
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In a campaign to enter the hard liquor business, Monarch Beverage Co. is pursuing a new tactic that takes aim at state regulators. Indiana’s largest beer distributor has accused the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission of letting politics influence its decisions.
