Amy Haneline

Big Red Liquors and Drizly announced they are extending their alcohol delivery service to Carmel due to overwhelming customer demand.

Residents aged 21 and older can now use the smartphone app to order beer, wine and liquor from nearby Big Red Liquor stores and have it delivered to their doorsteps.

Delivery hours for Carmel are from 2 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 2 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Drizly is offering a special welcome to Carmel residents. Enter CARMEL at checkout for free delivery (normally $5) on their first order made before Dec. 19.

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Food has been coming to our doorsteps for years — pizza, Chinese, those freaky-fast sandwiches. Now, a new website and app will offer a similar service that delivers wine, beer and liquor to Central Indiana homes.

Drizly takes alcohol orders from adults 21 and older and delivers the items within 20 to 40 minutes.

Drizly announced today it will work with Big Red Liquors, Indianapolis' largest liquor retailer, to make deliveries in neighborhoods including Broad Ripple, Brownsburg, Downtown, Fishers, Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Geist, Irvington and Meridian-Kessler.

Nick Rellas, co-founder and CEO of Drizly, said the company uses identification technology to make sure the deliveries don't get into hands of minors.

"The law states that the responsibility to ensure proper age lies with the store," Rellas said. "Someone has to ask for your ID."

The process is the same when delivering that product to your door.

Customers signing up for a Drizly account are required to input their names, addresses, credit card information and dates of birth. A minimum $20 order is required.

When the product is delivered, customers must present a valid ID that matches the name on the credit card. The drivers use a smart phone to scan the driver's license, letting the drivers know whether the ID is valid and whether the purchaser is 21 or older.

Drivers delivering products are Big Red employees trained in checking IDs as if they were working at the register.

Drivers can refuse the sale if they think the customer is intoxicated or if the environment suggests irresponsible or minor alcohol consumption is taking place, said Matt Bell, a spokesman for Big Red Liquors. The customer will be refunded his or her money minus a $20 restocking fee.

Drizly does not deliver to college campuses, Rellas said.

Delivering alcoholic products isn't new to Indianapolis, Bell said.

Drizly gives Big Red Liquors the technology to do what it has been doing, but more efficiently, he said.

"A large part of the population is not aware that liquor stores can deliver," Bell said.

David Symmes, co-owner of Crown Liquors, another Indianapolis liquor retailer, said his company already makes deliveries. His concern was less with the age-verification process, which he said is already completed by Crown Liquors and Big Red Liquors, and more about the demand for the service.

"I don't know if there is enough concentration of people in Indianapolis to have dedicated staff on stand-by for on-demand delivery," Symmes said.

Retail partners such as Big Red Liquors pay Drizly a monthly license fee.

Indianapolis is the eighth city to have Drizly, joining Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

Delivery hours are from 2 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 2 to 10 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays. Products closely match what is available in Big Red stores, and prices are not marked up. In addition, to the minimum purchase, there is a $5 delivery fee, but that fee is being waived for the first month.

Follow Amy Haneline on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Email her at amy.haneline@indystar.com. Please drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive.