Good afternoon. I cant get an answer from our city or state so I figured I could come here to see if I can find help on understanding about the laws of brewing beer and selling it at a bar.
Can anyone help me find out the laws about brewing and selling beer in Memphis at a bar that sells liquor as well.
Sorry if this has been asked but didn’t know where else to go.
Thanks you.
Sounds like you need advice from a lawyer, not homebrewers.
Figured some homebreweres already have dealt with lawyers and have the laws to go by and short cuts to help their fellow brew friends.
I’ll try that and thanks Denny. Appreciate you having me here.
You could also ask any similar business in Memphis, if there are any.
Definitely a state by state kind of thing. You should consult someone specific to Tennessee (a lawyer or the Tennessee level of the BATF or its equivalent), if that is where you plan to “go pro”. There is a category segment on this forum about going pro that might help you gather general information that will answer some of your questions at the start…good luck and Cheers!
No state has anything close to a “cottage” liquor industry. It varies by state but it pretty uniformly requires a lot of hoop-jumping with the state and federal regulators. Selling homebrew at a bar is a nonstarter, full stop.
I guess I should have clarified - there are brewpubs that have the license to sell the beer they brew and in some states, if you were to brew for such a business, you could brew at their site with their equipment and they could sell the beer you made there. Again, it is a state by state thing. I am in Illinois, which just a few years back was crazy about imposing the prohibition on sharing homebrew outside of one’s home, but after some lobbying, there are looser rules such that there are now places that can actually allow persons to brew for them (with them, technically, I guess) and then the business can sell the brews that are made in that process (which are then not considered homebrew, despite the small batch, one off nature of the process.)
Just know that the hoops mentioned are many and the licensing is something that somebody will have to go through and that process is not cheap. Distributing and labeling is a whole 'nother universe to the hoops…but good luck with your dream!
Yeah I guess I don’t really know what OP is trying to do. There are some brew on premise businesses, and proam collaborations with breweries. I think either way you’re using a license, just someone else’s license.