In Reply to: alcohol in Minimarts? posted by rodney on Tuesday, 17. March 2015 at 20:39 Bali Time:
The laws don't take effect until April, minimarts are allowed to continue to sell alcohol until then. I was in Indonesia last week and had no problems buying bottles of spirits or Bintang.
Apparently the laws will only prohibit the minimarts from selling alcohol with a percentage over 5%, and Bintang is 4.7% - so should be still obtainable when the new laws come in.
It won't stop the beach sellers, nor will it stop any market style shop at all from selling whatever spirits they like, the laws ONLY impact minimarts and hypermarkets such as Circle K, Indomaret, Alfamart, Hypermart, 7/11 etc.
The major franchise type ones are the only ones impacted. There is nothing to stop any joe bloggs from opening a non-chain store but selling exactly the same stuff you currently can buy at one of the franchises. There's a store called Coco at Kuta Square which I believe will be exempt from these new laws, because it's not a big franchise. They sell everything from chocolate bars to Bintang and Jack Daniels. They are essentially a liquor store.
I don't think we really have anything to worry about. These laws will have a small impact in Bali but probably a much larger impact in other non-tourist majority muslim areas.