The perennial debate about whether to lift Minnesota’s ban on Sunday liquor sales could get fizzier in the 2014 legislative session as citizen activists make a strong push to rally craft beer drinkers to their cause.

They face an uphill battle against influential business associations, a strong union and legislators wary of alienating local liquor stores. But the activists believe it’s inevitable.

“We see that it works in every state that surrounds Minnesota,” said Minnesota Beer Activists founder Andrew Schmitt. “It’s just time to make Minnesota part of the rest of the nation.”

 

‘No one is asking consumers how they feel’

Associations that represent bars and liquor stores, and the unions representing liquor distributors typically oppose Sunday sales. A smaller group of liquor store owners, especially those near state borders, would like to see a change in the law.

A poll released by Public Policy Polling in May found that 62 percent of Minnesotans supported lifting the ban. Only 31 percent opposed it. It’s this silent majority of supporters that Schmitt and the beer activists want tap into.

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