Equal parts ignorance and stupidity, theres no changing this bunch with education. Bible Belt mentality towards alcohol isn’t something you can change.
I find it sad more than anything else. And I fear the problem the AHA and the Bama Home-brewers face is that these elected officials won’t acknowledge that they are ignorant about Home Brewing, Wine Making and M.E.A.D making. As a CT yankee, all I can do is keep paying my AHA dues to support their efforts to back up those of you in Alabama.
A tip of the hat to all of you down in Alabama and Mississippi fighting this fight.
I don’t even know what I can say about. Wow, just wow. I wouldn’t be so shocked except for the 3rd (maybe 4th) gentleman they quoted who pronounced half of his words (that you could make out) incorrectly. These guys got elected? Wow. I’ll never look at Iowa’s Senate the same way again.
I was impressed, a small amount, by the guy who actually figured out kids might be able to get booze easier this way. To bad he missed the real argument that the kids could make it themselves. It’s not illegal for a teenager to buy grain, vegetables and yeast. ;) My son’s friends asked him in 6th grade if he could supply the senior kegger.
I just renewed my AHA membership and it seems like I’ll need to for a long time to come for the AL brewers.
Honestly I think these guys just represent their constituents and are the result of their upbringing. Preachers pounding them about the evils of drink, and bootlegging stories of lead-laced or methanol-contaminated hooch are what these guys are familiar with. Plus theres some real truth to the idea that alcohol has detrimental effects on society, especially to poor people who are in abundance in AL. How does that relate to homebrew? It is obviously seen by them as a way to make cheap liquor.
Obviously there needs to be some simplification of the next bill. I’d do a few things based on the testimony we heard. First, I’d lower the amount to maybe 50gal and make sure someone points ou that this is like drinking one scotch a day for one person, and point out that beer is perishable and would not actually be accumulated but consumed as it is made. This would let homebrew shops open and who’s going to count after that? Second, I’d leave out the word “mead” since obviously the average joe doesn’t know what it is and we’ll just refer to it as honey wine from now on. Third, I’d limit sales of homebrewing supplies to minors. Then there’d be no difference in the potential for kids to obtain homebrew versus any other liquor in the house.
Then I’d point out that making beer is not cheaper than buying commercial beer. I’d point out that Thomas Jefferson had his own brewery at Monticello (someone else made this point on the NB forum and I think it would carry some weight in a legislative body.)
I am so sorry for you guys in Alabama and Mississippi. Not just because you can’t brew without being lumped in with moonshiners, but also because you have some serious idiots in the state legislature. How the hell did Alvin Holmes get elected?
I know that and you know that, but if you took a retail extract situation and compared to Busch Light on sale I think it’d serve the purpose. we’re not talking about telling the truth, heck we’re dealing with politicians. You have to counterspin their spin.
It’d also be effective to compare the alcohol content of a pint of session beer to two fingers of Chivas Regal. I swear I about fell out of my chair laughing when the one guy started bragging about drinking Chivas.
It’s worse than that.
These boneheads (and I’m being kind) seem oblivious to the 1970’s era Federal law signed by president Jimmy Carter…himself an avowed born-again Christian, and who is also a member of the same party as most of the numbskulls who voted down this Alabama bill.
I guess the a**clowns in the Alabama legislature don’t bother to do any research (or hire a staff to do research) before they make fools of themselves spouting about subjects on which they have no background information.
And don’t even get me started on the guy bragging about his love for Chivas… :o That was just too damned funny.
For you Opie and Anthony fans, this guy is the same dummy(along with an assistant) they had a sound bite on concerning some type of beer related legislation(if memory serves, it was about allowing higher alcohol beers to be sold); “what’s wrong with beer we got? It drank pretty good…” SMH…
I loved O&A when they were local hosts in the Boston area. Whip’em Out Wednesdays ( WOW ) were the best!!! Then they had to get fired for that April Fool’s joke about Mayor Menino being killed in a car accident in Florida. Haven’t listened to them since they went to pay radio.
I’m not sure I agree with the adjustments to the bill with lowering the amounts and taking mead out of the equation. I really don’t think it will matter with these people. Someday I believe they will turn it around. I’m just glad the rest of the country isn’t following suit.