When I share my brews with friends, family or fans, can I legally accept a cash tip without having a license? Haven’t been able to find anything on the topic of tipping yet. Thanks in advance!
In the USA? No. Tips are still income.
If they directly gifted you a few pounds of grain or hops, it would still be technically illegal but a little more disguised at least. Still I would not be an advocate of that. Would hate to see anybody get into trouble. Everybody wants to make a buck, especially the government. If you’re homebrewing for money, you’re doing it for entirely the wrong reasons IMO. If that’s your motivation, seek employment at a real brewery or get licensed.
My 2 cents.
Maybe it’s just me but my friends, family or neighbors don’t offer me money when they drink my beer. There isn’t anything wrong with it necessarily but I would find it odd, personally.
If you are setting up a bar at your house with a “tip jar” you could get in serious trouble. If your buddy slides you $10 for chips and cigars then it’s all good. Have a homebrew.
A few weeks after our first Oktoberfest I found a $20 in an antique cigar box I use for a decoration on the kegerator. I didn’t ask for it, whoever left it didn’t tell me about it. Technically was an illegal sale but no one involved intentionally broke the law.
I donated it to my wife so as to avoid any appearance of illegality. ;D
Paul
I wouldn’t worry about it either way unless you get the impression the fuzz is onto you.
This is inline with what I was thinking. Not seeking tips at all, but not sure where the lines are about accepting them. Family and friends get a free pass, but if someone who follows me on instagram wants to swing by for a beer and tries to hand me a $5, I assume it’s going to be fine.
This started out a little strange and gets weirder. Trying to imagine telling my wife some rando who follows me on instagram is coming to the house for a beer…
Also, the fact that its someone who is aware of you from social media makes it more likely to be illegal and more likely to get caught. I was thinking a buddy drinks a lot of your beer and offered to reimburse or something.
Stating all this on a public forum wouldn’t be the route I would take either.
Rando Brewing Company. We accept tips. 
Honestly, I understand all of the caveats but I think you would have to do something pretty big to get anyone’s attention. If a friend asked you to make beer for his wedding and then wanted to give you money for it, the ATF is not going to be there waiting for some underground cash transaction to take place. Yes, it’s illegal for that money to change hands but this is not something you hear happening very often.
Im sure whoever would get you in trouble for this has much bigger things to worry about
I agree that actual trouble is unlikely.
No tips, just to be safe. Instead, no cash payments and simply accepting a gift of the ingredients to use for the brewing should work ok, as I see it, especially if all of the homebrew is going to be a gratis token consumed at a wedding, house party or other similar gathering where no admission charges are made.
It’s similar to people admitting that they brewed more than the 100 gallons a year (or 200 for a couple) you’re allowed to brew. Some people say that they brewed EXACTLY 200 gallons… but who is coming to your house to verify that or look for trouble?
I agree- a bit weird for normal times; not good practice during a world-wide pandemic! That said, not everyone accepts every instagram follower who comes along, do they?
I confess that I don’t really know what Instagram is other than sharing pictures. But being a “follower” sounds creepy. Borderline Luddite here.
I have an informal 3 for 1 policy. For my frequent visitors (less since covid) who have expressed guilt at drinking my beer I’ve asked that for every 3 beers of mine they plan to drink, bring me a can/bottle of something interesting for my ‘research’. This has gotten my friends to explore beyond the normal beers one might find at the grocery store and helped alleviate any guilt they might feel.
If you allow strangers from Instagram, or other social media platforms, into your home, getting caught for accepting tips related to serving home brew is the least of your worries.
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What do you mean by fans ? Are you meeting strangers from social media and then give them a beer? If you’re doing that not only is it dangerous to meet people you don’t know but if they have an allergic reaction to your beer you are going to be held liable. Also there might be some other legal issues that I’m not aware of giving somebody a beer you don’t know.
He’s asking us in a public forum inviting people he doesn’t know to his house to sample his beer. When you don’t know who’s coming into your house open the door for somebody to say something. It’s not like he has a business where is legally allowed to sell and take tips with beer he’s putting himself on Instagram and an open form stating this the more out there you put yourself the more likely you are to get yourself in trouble
I never have seen one time where he said he was inviting “strangers” into his house. Just keep that in mind.Maybe he posts his beer on instagram and his followers are his friends … not sure but let’s keep it in perspective. I think the question has been answered and not really any more reason to follow the trajectory it is going.