It’s gonna depend on the laws of your state. Some can. Some can’t.
Owning a business sucks. Be sure to include your opportunity cost in any analysis you do. Do you like spending time with friends or family? Do you like to do anything besides work? If you’d value your leisure time at anything over about $0.10/hour you’d likely come out in the red if you own your own business.
That was exactly the point I came to after owning my own business for close to 30 years. For the first few years, it was exciting and the work was fun. After about 10 years, it became just a job I went to every day.
god bless the sage nuggets of wisdom people post here. i’ve been half-heartedly doing some research into starting something up and it’s daunting - to say the least. deadends and almost every path i take. i won’t be too disappointed if nothing ever materializes from my research, but i do know that people go pro all the time. and for those people, i have a great respect. much perserverence, research and money is needed to take it pro. so far the best thing to do (from what i’ve read) is work for someone else for a few years to learn the ropes.
Sadly it’s also on who “interpets” the laws of your state. I know some brewers/clubs have done so without any problems. Other brewers/clubs in the same state have asked the ABC and have been told no. As a homebrewer I think this is a case of “it’s better to beg forgiveness, than ask permission”.
And on the festival. Some require the breweries to carry their own liability insurance.
I guess as a home brewer you can get away with that (though I would have ethical issues), but if you’re going pro the only thing worse than an alcohol-related conviction on your record is a tax-related conviction.
Well I know in my case the law is a bit of a gray area. Statutes - American Homebrewers Association
Homebrew can be removed for competition and the festival that I poured at has a Best Beer and People’s Choice competition. My HBC has poured at the festival since it began.
Are you referring to selling beer at festivals or just giving it away?
Both. For instance, this just came down the pipe in Illinois: http://goo.gl/Bb5xU
Well, I must say my experience is much different than what folks are talking about here. I just wanted to sell a few kegs (and corny ones at that) to the local bars in my small town. I just got another homebrew system, set it up in fiance’s shop, applied to TTB and my state LCB, and I’m legal. I can still homebrew on my previous system in the garage. It’s a bit of a pain keeping the ingridients seperate and all that. But, that’s fine. I’ve got the first 10 gallons on the commercial side carbonating right now, and will be sold on the 18th.
TTB cost $100 for the brewers bond (and every year thereafter)
State was additional $100 one time cost
Product liability inurance through USAA is $420 per year.
So, I can sell kegs to local bars and growlers to the public for offsite consumption.
In my case I was just referring to giving away homebrew at festivals in small taster glasses. Interesting to see what happens in Illinois. It is a bummer that they are locked out of the festivals right now but maybe people will see how ridiculous that is and get it changed.
But your fiance’s shop had to be up to local commercial code though, correct?
What’s the point of making beer to sell to strangers, if you’re not trying to make a reasonable profit on it? My 5/10gal batches are so precious to me, I’m only willing to share them with my friends. The thought of selling them in a bar to a bunch of strangers who won’t appreciate it is terrible.
Now, if I were making 10bbl to make a living, it’d be a different matter.
I guess I misunderstood your original post, because I don’t see any ambiguity there:
[quote]Any beer manufactured pursuant to this section may be removed from the premises where manufactured for use in competition at organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions, including homemakers’ contests, tastings, or judgings.
[/quote]
It’s explicitly legal to serve your homebrew at a “tasting” (festival), and if someone at the ABC says otherwise, they’re wrong.
It’s explicitly legal to serve your homebrew at a “tasting” (festival), and if someone at the ABC says otherwise, they’re wrong.
[/quote]
Well, I don’t think so. It explicitly says you can take your beer to an organized affair, exhibition, or competition to be used for competition. This includes homemaker’s contests, tastings, or judgings. So a homebrewer’s fair, tasting, festival, whatever is OK if it’s a competition. It doesn’t explicitly state that it’s OK to serve homemade beer at a commercial exhibition or festival, or to serve at a festival that’s not a homebrew contest.
Cops write bad tickets all the time. It doesn’t really matter if the ABC guy is wrong, he can still jam you up. You might get out of punishment in the end, but in the meantime you’ll have to deal with whatever fine/citation/whatever he feels like giving you.
What’s the point? Interesting question, that each of us must answer for ourselves. For me, it is the pleasure of watching someone put down their hard earned cash for something I created. I enjoy that feeling. Especially when they buy the second one. Friends almost always tell me my beer is “great” “good” and “wow.” But nothing says I’ve done a good job as when someone pays $5 for a pint. And in my town, it’s not so much “strangers” as friends I havn’t met yet.
Yesterday, as I was at the local bar modifying one of his Sankey for ball locks, I wore my brewery t-shirt to create a buzz, and boy did it. The customers were very excited to see another local brewery supplying them beer. Our first keg will be delivered Friday, and more than one said they’ll be back to try.
If it turns out that you end up losing money over time, will you still continue to do it? Sounds like you have very little overhead, which is a boon, but when you consider how much your time is actually worth it doesn’t seem possible to even break even on a 10 gallon system. OTOH if you are doing it to prove a concept and get someone on board who wants to fund a real brewery then it could be totally worth it. Just my .02. Not trying to discourage anyone from their passions.
I have been an actor my whole life. Never made more than a couple grand at a pop, certainly never paid my bills with it but everytime I drive for 1.5 hours for a 5 minute audition I think ‘What If this time…’ and everytime i DO get a check for doing this thing that I love it makes it all worth it. sure $400 bucks for 3 weeks of nights and weekends doesn’t make good economic sense but that $400 is like $1 million in my soul. I totally understand the desire to go pro even on a tiny system. Heck, at risk of stretching the analogy to the breaking point, I actually prefer the $400 dollar stage gig that only 200 people see to the $2000 commercial gig that 100k+ people see because that stage gig is all me and I get to interact with my audience. similary, If I ever get there being able to interact with the people that are enjoying my beer will be worth way more soul money than 10k bbls sold to strangers I will never meet or speak to.
but to each their own. I totally understand wanting to actually make a living at it to.
It’s explicitly legal to serve your homebrew at a “tasting” (festival), and if someone at the ABC says otherwise, they’re wrong.
[/quote]
That’s what I mean…I know of some clubs who have asked ABC to pour at beer festivals and they have been denied. Other clubs have just gone ahead and did it without any problems. Unfortunately from working in the government for 20+ years I know the easiest answer to give a member of the public is NO, especially when dealing with an issue that can be interpreted in different ways. It’s not right but it happens all the time. That’s where my " better to beg forgiveness than ask permission" statement came from.