That’s awesome! The homebrew will add some character to the event and the brewery won’t have to supply all of the beer. Win-win! Just be prepared in case your beer is better than the breweries. That happened at a fest I was pouring at a couple of years ago. We had a Watermelon Wheat that people were lined up to get. The brewery next to us also had a Watermelon Wheat but had very few takers. :
Yeah, they get to do a joint tasting…what?
he he
Colorado is awesome but my post is about Mississippi. You know, the most progressive state in the south.
Actually I had nothing to do with setting this up. Other folks from the club have done this. But as I know more I will report back.
PS. If I never post again it’s because I was shot for using the words progressive and Mississippi in the same sentence.
As an update there is currently legislation to change the law so that the non profit CAN be a brewing related charity. This is being done so that AHA can have the NHC in CA. But I do wonder if then a legally recognized non-profit homebrewing club (501c3) COULD have events where they sell their beer and all profits go back to the club.
Maybe, but I’m in a non-brewing related (plenty of drinking though) that is a 501(c)3 and the IRS is VERY particular about what we do with the money we raise.
I bet they are! If this new law passes in CA I am seriously thinking about starting some sort of non profit homebrewing club/collective. The “club” could then hold fundraising beer festivals 2x year and would be able to keep the profits. The caveat is that only “members” can attend but anyone can become a club member.
Yeah, I would imagine if you do that, you’ll have the ABC looking very particular at your doings particularly since this is part of the bill:
23356.2.d.5 Only bona fide members of the nonprofit organization may attend the event.
That gives the ABC a lot of room when they issue the license to tell you to go spit.
The whole “bona fide member” thing is up for interpretation. Look at the California Homebrewers Assoc…there sole purpose is really to put on two homebrewing festivals a year. Anyone can pay ten dollars and become a member. I know of lots of people who go to the Southern CA Homebrewers Festival who don’t brew and just see it as a good party. It wouldn’t be hard to start a non-profit that focuses on homebrewing education and beer appreciation. You could then charge a small annual membership fee (5 dollars) and host your own festival 2x a year. Plus I don’t know if the ABC can really deny a one day license to a non-profit that meets all the legal requirements.
One fest - they only do the SoCal fest. NCHF is put on by a whole other group.
And the one fest wasn’t always the case with them, they also used to do talks, etc. But leaving it at the one fest was what I think ultimately made them vulnerable to the ABC. Now they offer discounts and are starting to gear up for more events.
And never doubt that a negative enforcement agency like the ABC, if given room, can squash your license because your hair offends the field agent or something equally silly. (This is often one of the most frustrating things about the ABC or building inspections - how the rules are interpreted all depend on who’s the one doing the interp. Take for example the ability of folks in NorCal to have a commercial festival with homebrew pouring at it. We tried to get that cleared down here only to get shut down by our local office.
We haven’t been able to do that in a while actually. My club poured at a festival two or three years ago and then the ABC noticed apparently and said no more.
I like Tasty’s twitter comment a few weeks ago regarding the CA ABC…“they are a dictatorship with no real army”. As has been pointed out the rules/interpretations vary based on whose particular jurisdiction you are in. Frustrating to say the least!!! I think that in a lot of ways we need to stop asking permission( the answer is almost always NO!) and start begging forgiveness IF they actually try to stop us. Now obviously you won’t be able to put on an event with several thousand beer drinkers but a smaller one with perhaps a 100-200 is certainly manageable. In fact they happen on a pretty regular basis…