Brookline OK's morning bubbly for brunchers

By Andreae Downs, Globe Correspondent

Mimosas and Bloody Marys will soon be available for the morning brunch crowd in Brookline restaurants now that Town Meeting has adopted the state “Sunday Brunch Law.”

This local-option statute allows sales of alcohol as early as 10 a.m. on Sundays and some holidays. Sales had been prohibited under Massachusetts’ old ‘blue laws” regulating morality and liquor. The measure takes effect in 90 days.

The adoption will allow licensed restaurants (Brookline does not allow liquor sales without food) to petition for earlier servings of booze with their brunch offerings, meaning more seatings and probably more sales, according to Selectman Ken Goldstein. Currently noon is the earliest possible Sunday service for the bubbly or vodka-spiked drink.

The extra revenue for restaurants will also enhance town coffers as Brookline levies the local-option sales tax on eateries. But, according to Selectwoman Nancy Daly, it’s probably “small money,” as interest in the extra two hours has been modest, she said.

Bobbie Knable, speaking for the Advisory Committee, said that in public hearings there was no opposition. She added that Boston and Cambridge have already adopted the brunch law “without any ill effect.”