Indiana carryout alcohol hours run from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. the following day, Monday through Saturday, and from noon to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. Those windows apply statewide to any business selling sealed alcohol for off-premises consumption, whether that’s a liquor store, a grocery store, a convenience store, a drugstore, or a restaurant filling a to-go order.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-3-1-14 – Times When Sales Lawful; Athletic or Sports Events
The Hours in Practice
The Sunday cap is the one that surprises people most often. Bars and restaurants can pour drinks on-premises until 3:00 a.m. any day of the week, but their carryout privileges shut off at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. So a restaurant with a full dinner service running late on a Sunday night cannot sell you a bottle of wine to take home after 8:00, even if the kitchen is open and the bar is still serving.
Sunday carryout sales were banned outright in Indiana until 2018. The current noon-to-8:00 p.m. window is the compromise that ended that prohibition, and it remains narrower than the weekday hours by design.
Who Can Legally Sell Carryout
Indiana splits alcohol permits into two categories, and only one authorizes carryout sales. A dealer’s permit covers off-premises consumption. A retailer’s permit covers on-premises consumption at bars, restaurants, and hotels. A restaurant that wants to add carryout to an existing retailer’s permit has to meet a separate food-to-alcohol revenue test under Indiana Code 7.1-3-20-9.5.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-3-20-9.5 – Restaurant Carryout Sales; Eligibility
Annual dealer permit fees scale by what you sell:
- Beer only, wine only, or liquor only: $500 per year
- Any two of the three: $750 per year
- Beer, wine, and liquor: $1,000 per year
Those tiers are set by statute.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-4-4.1-12 – Dealer’s Permit Fees4Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Alcohol and Tobacco Commission Fee Schedule Getting a permit in the first place is harder than paying for one. Indiana caps the number of dealer permits per area based on population: one beer dealer’s permit per 2,000 residents in a city under 15,001 (or two, whichever is greater), and one per 6,000 in cities of 80,000 or more, with a floor of 23. Liquor dealer permits follow the same ratios.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 7.1 – 7.1-3-22-4 In populated areas the quota is usually full, so new entrants buy an existing permit from a retiring business rather than apply cold. The application itself runs through the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission and includes business documentation, a floor plan, and a premises inspection by the Indiana State Excise Police.6Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Obtaining an Alcohol Permit
The Cold Beer Rule
Indiana is the only state with this one, and it catches nearly every out-of-state visitor. Under Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-11, a holder of a beer dealer’s permit cannot sell beer that has been iced or cooled before or at the time of sale. Selling cold beer in violation of that rule is a Class B misdemeanor.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-11 – Sale of Cold Beer Prohibited
The restriction targets beer dealer’s permits specifically. Convenience stores and grocery stores, which typically hold beer or beer-and-wine permits, must sell beer warm. Package liquor stores holding a full dealer’s permit for beer, wine, and liquor can sell it cold. That’s why you find refrigerated beer cases in liquor stores but not at the gas station down the street.
Resealed Wine From a Restaurant
A restaurant with a wine retailer’s permit can let you take home an unfinished bottle of wine, but only under specific conditions. You must have ordered the wine with a meal and partially consumed it on the premises. The restaurant then reseals the bottle and places it in a bag or container secured so that any tampering is visible, and gives you a dated receipt for the bottle and the meal.8Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-3-20-9.6 – Resealing Wine Bottle Purchased With Meal
Once that resealed bottle is in your car, it counts as an open container under Indiana’s open container law. Store it in the trunk or somewhere else not readily accessible to anyone in the passenger area.
Growlers and Brewery Carryout
Breweries selling beer in growlers or crowlers under a brewer’s permit must comply with labeling and sealing requirements under Indiana Code 7.1-3-2-7. Containers filled on-site for off-premises consumption must show the brewery name, the type of beer, and a proper seal. The rules exist so beer packaged for carryout can be told apart from an already-opened beverage under the state’s open container laws.
Alcohol Delivery Rules
Indiana allows liquor dealer permit holders to deliver alcohol to a customer’s home, office, or other location, but the delivery has to be made by the permit holder personally or by an employee who holds an employee permit. The ATC has stated in an advisory opinion that third-party services like DoorDash and Instacart fall outside the delivery statute, so a licensed retailer cannot contract those platforms to hand alcohol to the customer.9Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Advisory Opinion 19-07 Liquor deliveries are also capped at 12 quarts per delivery.
Direct wine shipping from wineries is a separate track. A winery operating under a direct wine seller’s permit can ship to an Indiana consumer if the buyer provides government-issued proof of age, the container is labeled “CONTAINS WINE. SIGNATURE OF PERSON AGE 21 OR OLDER REQUIRED FOR DELIVERY,” and the carrier verifies the recipient’s age at the door. The winery may not ship more than 216 liters to any one consumer per calendar year, and only wine the winery itself manufactured, produced, or bottled qualifies. Indiana excise and sales tax is remitted monthly.10Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-3-26-9 – Direct Wine Seller
Penalties for Selling or Buying Outside the Rules
Selling alcohol without a permit is a Class B misdemeanor, carrying up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.11Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-5 – Sale Without Permit Prohibited12Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-3-3 – Class B Misdemeanor Selling cold beer in violation of the beer dealer restriction carries the same classification.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-11 – Sale of Cold Beer Prohibited
On the buyer’s side, a minor who knowingly possesses, consumes, or transports alcohol on a public highway commits a Class C misdemeanor. If the minor was driving, the court can suspend driving privileges for up to a year, and for minors under 18 a suspension of at least 60 days is mandatory.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 7.1-5-7-7 – Illegal Possession
Businesses also face administrative consequences. The ATC can suspend or revoke a permit for selling outside allowed hours, failing to keep proper records, or other regulatory violations, and it publishes a schedule of administrative fines set by permit type and offense.14Legal Information Institute. Indiana Code 905 IAC 2-2-4 – Schedule of Fines and Penalties In a quota-capped area, losing a permit can end the business, because the permit itself is the scarce asset the ATC will not simply re-issue.