Happy hours return to the Valley, with no great splash quite yet

For Terre Haute’s bars and restaurants, happy hours are here again.

The practice of offering drink specials — generally in the late afternoon or early evening — was banned in Indiana in 1985 aiming to curtail binge drinking and drunk driving.

In March of this year, however, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed House Bill 1086, making Happy Hour legal again. The law took effect on July 1.

House Bill 1086 comes with a number of restrictions: Prices cannot be reduced for more than four hours in one day and 15 hours in one week. Two-for-one specials and bottomless drink specials are not allowed, and discounts cannot be offered after 9 pm.

Moreover, bar owners must acquire at least $500,000 in liquor liability insurance in order to obtain or renew a liquor license retailer’s permit.

However, the legislation allows alcohol carry-out orders, which became popular in other states during the COVID-19 lockdown.

A number of local bars embraced the new law quickly, while others have declined to take advantage of the opportunity to leave some money in the pockets of adult beverage consumers.

Tree House Eatery and Drinkery at 729 N. 7th St. offers the maximum 15 hours per week, but avoids discounts on Friday and Saturday. Its happy hours are Tuesday from 2-6 p.m., Wednesday from 5-8 p.m., Thursday 4-8 p.m. and Sunday from 5-9 p.m.

M. Moggers Restaurant and Pub likewise eschews drink discounts on Friday and Saturday. The business at 908 Poplar St. offers happy hours Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

On the other hand, Saratoga Restaurant, 431 Wabash Ave., only offers happy hour to inaugurate the weekend, Friday and Saturday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. In addition to drink discounts, the restaurant also lowers the price of some appetizers and rotates its specials.

Sonka Irish pub, 1366 Wabash Ave., allows patrons to imbibe on a budget Monday from 5-7 p.m., Friday from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Bar_Botics, 671 Wabash Ave., offers Happy Hour everyday, from 5-7 p.m. While some mix up their drink and appetizer specials, Bar_Botics maintains the same discounts: Well drinks for $1 and $3 for a draft Michelob Ultra.

Live music club the Verve has not announced official happy hour hours yet, but they’re in the works and the bar offers other drink specials.

“Indiana sometimes takes a little while to catch on to all the different trends. I think it was overdue, but it excited the town,” said Alexis Green, manager of the Saratoga. “Everybody — all the different local restaurants — seem to be enjoying it and featuring certain things during happy hour.”

M. Moggers General Manager Karen Fortune said, “I think this is a good idea. We had had it in the past and it’s been gone for a few years. It’s good to have it back, especially with the businesses staggering (their happy hours) like it is — it’s not going to be everybody all at the same times. It’ll be good for the community.”

Of the different bars contacted, only Saratoga reported an uptick in patronage this early into the recent re-legalization of happy hour.

Green said, “The business has been pretty good — we’ve noticed an increase during those times and people really seem to enjoy coming in and seeing what we’re offering.”

Fortune admitted that M. Moggers couldn’t say the same.

“Not a huge uptick — everybody’s not used to it, yet,” she said. “There hasn’t been much advertising, community-wide.

“We had a pretty good business before (happy hours were made illegal) — Long Island (Ice Teas) are pretty good, I remember Thursdays were pretty busy here — so I hope to see that come back.”

Tree House Eatery and Drinkery owner Steven Bedrava also said he hadn’t seen an increase in business, but admitted that he wasn’t yet familiar with the contours of happy hour.

“I’m with most every bar owner here in Indiana — we don’t have the experience to utilize happy hours yet,” he said with a laugh. “If we seem like we’re just still trying to figure it out, that’s because we are.”

“Bar_Botic co-owner Ethan Page said, “I haven’t noticed much of an uptick yet but hopefully we will see one soon.”

Bedrava said that Tree House, near the Indiana State University campus, will be changing its happy hour specials and its entire drink menu in about six weeks in order to add mocktails, nonalcoholic beverages for those under 21.

“We want to be able to allow the 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds to come in and have a good time legally and safely,” he said.

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