Return of the deals: ‘Happy hour’ discounted drinks will be legal in Indiana for first time in decades

Bretton Lammi, beverage director for Prime Hospitality Group, is aware that alcohol consumption is trending downward among young adults.

According to a 2023 report published by analytics company Gallup Inc., 62% of adults younger than 35 said they drink alcohol. In a similar survey spanning 2001 to 2003, the result was 72%.

Lammi views Indiana’s new “happy hour” law, which goes into effect July 1, as a way to make cocktails, wine and beer more appealing to people who abstain.

In Indianapolis, Prime Hospitality Group owns two Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations and Mass Ave whiskey and craft cocktail bar the Exchange. The new “happy hour” guidelines allow discounted drinks for up to four hours a day but for no more than 15 hours in a week.

Although Indiana bars and restaurants aren’t obligated to establish happy hours—or “social hours,” “cocktail hours” or “afternoon drinks” in modern vernacular—visitors to Ruth’s Chris and the Exchange should expect to encounter lower prices, Lammi said.

“I think it will be a welcome change for a lot of people,” Lammi said. “But I’m really looking forward to getting the younger generation in, people who maybe are not used to going to a Ruth’s Chris because of the price point. Maybe this will be a little bit more appealing to them.”

Indiana bars and restaurants currently are limited to offering all-day alcoholic beverage specials. Indiana banned the happy hour tradition of cheap drinks sold for a limited time in 1985, during an era in which several states outlawed happy hours because of concerns related to drunken driving and binge drinking.

Lammi said he doesn’t anticipate a surge in reckless behavior because of the new happy hour law. Bars and restaurants won’t be allowed to offer all-you-can-drink promotions or games and contests based on how much a customer drinks.

“The idea is not to fill them full of alcohol and send them on their way,” Lammi said. “It’s to have them come in and have a great hospitality experience and experience some of our amazing cocktails and food.”

In March, the happy hour legislation was a lopsided winner in the Indiana General Assembly. The House voted 80-12 to approve, while the Senate tally was 39-9. Rep. Jake Teshka, a Republican from South Bend, authored the bill. One of its co-authors was Rep. Justin Moed, a Democrat from Indianapolis.

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill during a March 14 ceremony at downtown’s Whistle Stop Inn, 375 S. Illinois St.

Opponents of bringing back happy hour included Lisa Hutcheson, vice president of prevention and advocacy for Mental Health America of Indiana. During a January meeting of the House Committee on Public Policy, Hutcheson addressed legislators and cited a 2020 National Institutes of Health publication that linked happy-hour promotional discounts to heavy drinking and intoxication.

The NIH analyzed 12 studies that examined the effect of drink specials in seven countries between 1978 and 2018.

“Any time you increase the access to alcohol, you will increase underage drinking and you will increase impaired driving,” Hutcheson told the IBJ. “It’s just statistics.”

Rep. Teshka said the legislation was inspired by businesses dealing with a pandemic hangover.

“A lot of folks haven’t returned to their offices or they’re on a hybrid basis,” he said. “Restaurants and bars have been struggling to recapture that post-work 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. customer crowd.”

Through discussions with restaurant owners, Teshka learned there was support for reviving happy hours as a way to drive business.

“They said, ‘We would be able to attract more of those folks who want to stop off after work with a co-worker or friend before heading home to enjoy dinner with their families,’” Teshka said.

Filling the hours

Nick Rentschler, general manager of Ocean Prime seafood and steak restaurant, 8555 River Road, said his industry has experienced a slight downturn following strong sales at the end of the pandemic.

“Restaurants are always looking for ways to get more and more butts in seats,” said Rentschler, who began his stint as Ocean Prime’s local general manager in 2023. “You’re always kind of revamping things or launching menus. … To add that beverage component [of happy hour], I think that’s definitely something a lot of restaurants are excited to do.”

Owned by Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, Ocean Prime has locations in 15 states—including many where happy hour discounts are legal.

Rentschler said he plans to devote a maximum-allowed four hours of reduced prices to Thursdays at Ocean Prime’s lounge and outdoor terrace. The new law dictates that happy hour deals can’t be offered from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Ocean Prime plans to offer signature cocktails at half-price, house white and red wines for $8 and beer for $5.

“We’ll hit all the major criteria there to do something for everybody,” he said.

At the tasting room of Fortville’s Moon Drops Distillery, which opened in December 2022, owner Mark Pressley said happy hour will be implemented as a way to introduce the company’s spirits to a new audience.

“We’re an artisan distillery,” Pressley said. “When cocktails are between $10 and $20, that’s not affordable for everybody. We see the opportunity to show people, ‘Oh, this is what better alcohol tastes like and what you can do with it in a cocktail.’”

The menu at the tasting room, which is open Thursdays through Sundays, includes cocktails such as Bonfire Blends Moonshine Lemon Shake-Up infused with blueberry and Bonfire Blends Moonshine Orange Dreamsicle with cranberry juice and Moon Drops rum.

Pressley said happy hour at Moon Drops likely will be observed Thursdays through Saturdays.

At Mass Ave cocktail bar the Exchange, one of the Prime Hospitality Group properties, Lammi said happy hour discounts will apply to legacy cocktails, which are popular selections from previous menus, and seasonal cocktails. One Exchange cocktail of note is the Corpse Reviver No. 2, which includes a dash of absinthe.

Lammi said Bin 23 Bistro, one of Prime’s South Bend restaurants, might apply a fitting 23% discount to its happy hour drinks.

The old days

Before happy hours were prohibited in Indiana, bars advertised “chug-a-lug” contests and all you can drink for a fixed price—two practices that won’t be allowed under the new law.

A national movement to decrease drunken driving launched in 1980, when a California teenager was killed by an impaired driver. The adolescent’s mother, Candace Lightner, founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Since then, 21 has become the legal drinking age in all 50 states. Many states have implemented more severe penalties for driving while intoxicated.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 35% of fatal crashes nationally in 1982 involved a driver with a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or more. Twenty years later, the statistic decreased to 21% in 2002.

Did the absence of happy hours play a role? It’s difficult to say.

In the 15 years spanning 2007 to 2021, the percentage of fatal traffic accidents in Indiana involving a drunk driver varied from 14.6% in 2020 to 30.3% in 2008, according to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The per-year average was 24.2%.

In 1982, three years before happy hour discounts were outlawed in Indiana, the percentage of fatal traffic accidents involving drunk drivers was 22.5%.

Teshka said his team researched traffic safety data for states where happy hours are legal and states where happy hours are banned.

“There’s not a lot of correlation between the presence or absence of happy hour and drunk driving incidents,” Teshka said.

Massachusetts was the first state to outlaw happy hours in 1984, and the law remains on that state’s books.

After happy hours are reinstated in Indiana next month, the list of non-happy hour states will shrink to seven: Massachusetts along with Alaska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont.

Assisting an industry

Teshka said the goal of bringing back happy hours is to help small businesses.

“These are folks who operate on thin margins and work really hard, really long hours,” Teshka said. “A best-case scenario would be to help them see an uptick in business during these hours where they’ve been seeing some lulls. And I think we can continue to drive folks to our downtown areas and help revitalize those areas, which really did suffer during and after COVID.”

Hutcheson, the Mental Health America of Indiana executive who also serves as director of the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking, said Indiana’s alcohol industry has received ample legislative assists without the new happy hour rules.

She mentioned the ability to sell cocktails to go, which was approved as part of the new happy hour bill. Beginning July 1, 18-year-olds will be allowed to serve alcohol in Indiana restaurants. In 2023, Indiana municipalities were given the OK to create designated outdoor refreshment areas for drinking in public. Hutcheson also mentioned the 2015 law that tripled the amount of beer that Indiana breweries are allowed to produce.

“While I understand that COVID impacts everyone, I also understand that the alcohol industry is a very thriving business in Indiana,” she said.

Hutcheson noted that beer, liquor and wine haven’t been subjected to a tax increase in Indiana in more than 40 years. In 1981, the General Assembly used a tax hike to fund alcohol and drug treatment services.

All retailers will be required to maintain liquor liability insurance as part of the new happy hour law.

“Nothing in the bill we passed takes away the responsibility for restaurants, bar owners, their bartenders and waitstaff to ensure they’re not overserving patrons,” Teshka said.

The lawmaker said he plans to monitor alcohol-related problems in Indiana after the law goes into effect.

“If it turns out for some reason we were wrong on this, I’ll be the one leading the charge to make sure we’re keeping the public safe,” Teshka said.•