This Wednesday marks another effort to make St. Paul a friendlier city to local St. Paul taprooms and micro-distilleries. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., a public hearing will address a motion to allow taproom beer and micro-distillery cocktail room sales in the capitol city on Sundays. Though the oft-mentioned “Surly bill” of 2011 set precedent for the evolution of taproom sales in Minnesota, Sunday sales were left to the same fate of off-sale liquor stores.

Bringing new business to a community can hardly be seen as a bad thing, and when that business concerns the prosperity of the craft beer and taproom renaissance of recent years, the benefits are myriad. Not only will Sunday sales allow local existing St. Paul taprooms and micro-distilleries another relaxed weekend day to serve their supporters, it could very well encourage new fledgling breweries to choose St. Paul as a beer and spirit friendly city to call home.

In the mind of this St. Paul resident and beer enthusiast writer, a hyper-local beer scene can only mean more variety and drive for quality as it will become ever more necessary for micro-breweries to carve a neighborhood niche that exudes a unique style for their intoxicating substance.

In addition to the immediate effect on local beer culture, parity with on-sale bars could ignite an effort to once again question the restriction of off-sale liquor on Sundays, as many are liable to want to bring home growlers of their favorite taproom beers.

Photo by: Quinn Dombrowski