Hop City opens home brewing department
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – Now that home brewing is legal in Alabama, one Birmingham business is hoping people will want to buy some hops.
Hop City, located in the Pepper Place district, has just launched a home brewing department.
On Wednesday, workers held demonstrations on how to make beer from home.
According to the workers, it is as easy as making pasta.
For some, though, it could turn into something more than just a hobby.
On CBS42 News at 10, we will take a look at home brewing in Alabama, and how making beer is actually a bonding experience between a man and his son.
Copyright 2013 WIAT-TV CBS 42
Opinions From Candidates For Pottsgrove’s School Board
Opinions From Candidates For Pottsgrove’s School Board
Posted on 18 May 2013.
At the polls
POTTSTOWN PA – Extensive interviews with both slates of candidates in Tuesday’s (May 21, 2013) primary elections for seats on the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors have been conducted and posted online by reporter Evan Brandt of The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper. They’ve been available since Thursday (May 16) at Brandt’s YouTube channel, here.
Each of the two videos present discussions in which all eight candidates, in comfortable surroundings at The Mercury’s offices, talk about themselves; their hopes, aspirations and concerns for the district; what they believe to be issues that matter to voters, and their reasons for seeking election or re-election. They are informal and candid introductions to each group; The Post thanks and commends Brandt for performing a public service in providing them.
Unfortunately none of the participants are wearing individual microphones, so it may help to turn up the listening volume on whatever device you’re using to watch them.
The videos are embedded in the order in which they appear on Brandt’s channel.
Below: Diane Cherico, Scott Fulmer, Nancy Landes, and Michael Neiffer
Below: Don Clancy, Matt Alexander, Kelley Crist, and Rick Rabinowitz
Beer brewing discussed at conference
Now it’s arguably the world’s most popular tipple, but what exactly goes into make a good glass of beer. Who better to find out from than the Masters Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) who hosted the 52nd annual conference here in Cayman.
Experts discussed all aspects of brewing during the 2 day event at the Westin Hotel… And it was hosted by Caybrew, our local beer.
James Mansfield of Caybrew said: “I think the population can only really support one brewery. I think we’ve been innovative to develop the taste requirements for the beers, to capture more people into the brands, so it couldn’t be sustainable with just Caybrew. We had to develop more brands.”
The MBAA has more than 2700 members from 55 countries throughout the world.
Thirsty for more local beer? New Huntsville breweries, craft beer store on the way
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Receiving a Mr. Beer home brewing kit for
Father’s Day was the catalyst IT administrator Eric Crigger needed to develop a
passion for craft beer and launch his own contract brewery in Huntsville.
Crigger, a Huntsville resident, was living in Arizona with
his family when he received the gift 11 years ago, but the craft quickly brought
him to Chicago’s Siebel Institute of Technology, the oldest brewing school in
the U.S. After moving to Huntsville, Crigger got his feet wet in commercial
brewing at Olde Towne Brewing Company, which opened in 2004 as the city’s first
microbrewery and closed two years ago.
On the cusp of opening his own brewery, Crigger, his wife,
Tatum, and friends John and Lynn Troy, owners of Huntsville engineering services
company Troy 7, will soon launch Rocket Republic Brewing. Using Rocket Republic’s
equipment and recipes, Blue Pants Brewery will brew the beer in a
10,000-square-foot warehouse in Madison, allowing Rocket Republic to then sell and distribute the product to bars, restaurants and stores.
Rocket Republic Brewing is among several beer-making
enterprises and a craft-only beer store preparing to open in Madison County
in the coming months. Huntsville isn’t the only community seeing an uptick
in the brewing industry, though. In February, the Alabama Brewers Guild
reported triple-digit brewery production growth in 2012 across the state for the third consecutive
year.
Wish You Were Beer owner Damon Eubanks walks through his new craft-only beer store in Madison. (Lucy Berry | lberry@al.com)
Rocket Republic will initially produce three beers – the Vapor
Trail Cream Ale, a honey- and biscuit-flavored light malt beer; the Mach 1
India Pale Ale, a zesty tangerine and tangy citrus beer with rye malt; and the
Astronut Brown Ale, a toasty dark beer brewed with real almonds.
“This is a highly trained area,” Crigger said. “There are a
lot of people here from other parts of the country and their palates are a
little more diverse than what you might see in other counties across the state.
They demand a little more in terms of food and beverages.”
Beer production statewide grew 118 percent to 19,301 taxable
barrels of beer from 8,846 barrels in 2011, Alabama Brewers Guild Executive Director Dan Roberts said
Tuesday. Roberts said Madison County has the highest per capita volume of
breweries than any other county in Alabama.
“Part of it is beer is kind of seen as a blue-collar drink –
it’s not condescending,” he said. “With craft beer, it’s the best of both
worlds. It has a lot of complexity, interesting styles and is a lot of fun, but
very approachable. Wine is sometimes seen as a barrier to entry. There is that
perception that if I don’t make six figures, I’m not going to be a wine
drinker.”
Roberts said a “strong hunger” developed locally for brewpubs
and breweries after lawmakers passed the Free the Hops
Gourmet Beer Bill in May 2009 to increase the alcohol by volume in beer from 6
to 13.9 percent. Two years later, the Brewery Modernization Act passed,
allowing Alabama breweries to have on-site tap rooms. Last May, Free the Hops in Alabama worked to
pass the Gourmet Bottle Bill, which allows brewers to sell up to 25.4 oz
bottles of beer.
There are more state restrictions that Free
the Hops and the Alabama Brewers Guild hope to eliminate in the near future.
Currently, brewpubs must operate either in a historic or economically
distressed area that’s also permitted the sale of alcohol since before
prohibition.
Huntsville attorney Cliff Kerry said he’s applying for historical status so he can open Huntsville Brewery in about two months in the old 801 Franklin restaurant off
Governors Drive. Kerry said the 5,800-square-foot facility was formerly the Rust Normal School,
which predated AM and Oakwood universities.
Huntsville Brewery, which will open in about two months, will be located at the old 801 Franklin restaurant off Governors Drive. (Lucy Berry | lberry@al.com)
Kerry, a divorce and criminal lawyer for 10 years, works
part-time as a bartender at The Nook at 3305 Bob Wallace Ave. S.W. Kerry, who
said he’s invested about $200,000 in the business, hopes to give his new
brewery a New Orleans vibe, complete with a three-barrel brewing system,
walk-in cooler and 114-seat patio.
Huntsville Brewery will offer local beers, including
Straight to Ale and Yellowhammer, and family dishes from Louisiana. The business
will initially employ 22 part- and full-time workers this summer. Kerry said the
brewery’s signature beer will be a porter with a smoky, bacon aftertaste.
Brent Cole, founder and brewmaster of Salty Nut Brewery, is
in the process of opening a brewery at 4411 Evangel Circle near UAHuntsville. Cole, a NASA engineer, and business partners Daniel
Yant and Mark Ivie have invested at least $50,000 in the business.
Within the month, Cole hopes to begin producing Salty Nut’s
Nom Nom Porter, Irish Red Ale Imperial Mustache Red and the Hop Naughty
Imperial Pale Ale. The 2,500-square-foot brewery plans to make at least 10
different beers in the future and eventually expand.
“Before two years ago, you could only get 4 ½ percent beer
and that was about it,” he said. “Now that people understand, ‘Hey, I can open
a business here and make it a brewery,’ people are wanting to pursue that more.”
Wish You Were Beer, the first
craft-only beer store in north Alabama, is preparing to open June 15 on 7407 U.S. 72 in Madison. Owner
Damon Eubanks said the “one-of-a-kind” business will have a bar and retail storefront
so shoppers can either buy singles or create their own six pack. The
2,000-square-foot store, located between Knuckleheads Sports Bar and the Cigar
Room, will have about 20 craft beers on tap.
Eubanks, who previously worked as a beertender for Straight
to Ale and sales manager for Alabey/Birmingham Beverage Company, said he wants
Wish You Were Beer to become a destination place for out-of-town residents.
“We have so many people in this area who are well traveled,
and they moved here and were really disappointed in our selection,” he said. “They
couldn’t get craft beer here before, and weren’t content to let things go on as
they were.”
Roberts said Rocket Republic, Huntsville Brewery and Salty
Nut join several other brew-making businesses in the Huntsville area, including
Straight to Ale, Blue Pants, Yellowhammer Brewing, Brew Stooges, Below the Radar and Old Black
Bear Brewing Company. Roberts projects 38,944 barrels of beer will be produced
in Alabama this year, up 102 percent from 2012.
Follow me on Twitter at @lsberry1 or send me an email at
lberry@al.com.
Pottstown Woman Charged In Sanatoga Home Dispute
Pottstown Woman Charged In Sanatoga Home Dispute
Posted on 17 May 2013.
SANATOGA PA – A Pottstown woman was arrested Monday (May 13, 2013) on charges that included assault, after Lower Pottsgrove police alleged she was involved in an altercation in which one of her daughters was visibly injured.
Being held on counts of trespass, simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct is Jodie Zaborsky of 268 Concord Rd.
According to a report by Ofc. David Slothower, police were called at around 4 p.m. to a town house in the 100 block of the Maple Glen residential community, near Maple Glen Circle on the south side of East High Street. A domestic dispute had escalated, he said, and upon arrival police found Zaborsky’s two daughters there. One of them reportedly had finger marks on her throat, as well as other injuries.
Police claim the daughters, who were not identified by name or age, were in the home but did not live there. Zaborsky also did not live there, and had entered the property without permission and then fled, police allege.
After later making contact with Zaborsky, police took her into custody. She was arraigned before an on-call judge, and was taken to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville PA in lieu of $5,000 bail. A preliminary hearing on the matter, in the Sanatoga courtroom of Magisterial District Judge Edward Kropp Sr., is scheduled for May 23 (Thursday).
Rebirth of Staten Island beer! Two breweries set to open in January
Two beer-loving Staten Islanders are trying to turn their home borough into Milwaukee-on-the-Kill Van Kull.
Jonathan Schulman and Jay Sykes are each laying plans to open commercial breweries in January on an island that hasn’t had a large-scale suds-making operation since the 1960’s.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Jonathan Schulman,owner of Staten Island Brewing Co. in his Staten Island basement Brewery.
“I have that dream that all home brewers dream — of having all their beer consumed by everybody in the entire world,” Schulman, 67, told the Daily News.
Starting, of course, with Staten Island.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Two brewers on Staten Island think suds brewed on New York City’s lesser-known island borough could soon be big business.
“There’s been a void here since 1962, when Piels left,” said Schulman. “Business-wise, I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to produce a Staten Island beer.”
Schulman, who has been home-brewing ale, stout and wheat beers for nearly two decades, is calling his fledgling operation the Staten Island Brewing Company. He is currently in talks for a commercial space near Mariners Harbor.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Each brewer is planning to open a commercial operation in January. Early in the 1900s, two rival breweries on Staten Island did a brisk business.
Sykes, co-owner of the Flagship Brewing Company, has already leased a space in the St. George section where they intend to brew, bottle and market three different kinds of beer.
And Sykes vowed his beers will be flavored with hops he planted himself on — Where else? — Staten Island.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Staten Island has been without a major brewery since 1962.
“We want to grow this on Staten Island,” Sykes told DNAinfo, referring to both the hops and his hopes. “We think it’s the right way to grow it.”
Beer brewing used to be big business on Staten Island.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Jonathan Schulman,owner of Staten Island Brewing Co. in his Staten Island basement Brewery.
Schulman, who has been home-brewing ale, stout and wheat beers for nearly two decades, is calling his fledgling operation the Staten Island Brewing Company.
Two rival breweries on the island, Atlantic and Bachmann and Bechtel, once employed hundreds of people and sold millions of dollars worth of beer.
But Bachman and Bechtel died out shortly after they merged in 1911. Atlantic continued making beer and was bought by Piels Brothers in 1953.
A decade later, Piels pulled out and most of the brewery buildings of the island were demolished.
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Home brewing boom embraced in all 50 states
Americans have been brewing beer in their homes since colonial times — both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were home brewers. Even so, a recent explosion of interest in the hobby has created tricky questions for state alcohol regulators.
As of July 1, home brewing will be legal in all 50 states. But many states still prohibit home brewers from transporting their beer to club meetings or competitions. Some states also limit the amount a home brewer can produce in a year.
The remaining restrictions rankle home brewers, who say swapping samples and competing with other brewers is what their culture is all about. “You could just drink your home brew at home, but you’d be missing out on a large part of the community,’ said James Spencer, who hosts a popular podcast about home brewing.
Some states have been lax in enforcing such rules, but the hobby’s popularity and the growth of home brew supply stores is making it harder to justify a hands-off approach. About a million Americans brew their own beer at least once a year, according to the American Homebrewers Association. The group now has 37,000 members, up from 8,700 in 2005.
The tension has sparked legislative fights in several states. In 2010, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission shut down an annual home brew competition at the Oregon State Fair that had been held for 22 years. In response, the Oregon legislature scrapped state restrictions on where home brew can be made and consumed, and legalized fees and prizes at home brew competitions. Oregon home brewers also can engage in small-scale professional brewing at pubs.
Other states have taken similar action. Wisconsin lifted many of its restrictions in 2012, after the Schooner Home Brew Competition was spirited to a nearby city to appease uneasy city officials. And this year, Georgia and Iowa approved laws allowing home brewers to take their beer out of their homes. State lawmakers in Illinois and Missouri also are considering measures that would allow home brewers to participate in public festivals and competitions.
But the American Homebrewers Association advises its members to proceed cautiously in state capitols. “If it is technically not legal to share home brew at a club meeting in your state, but there has not been any enforcement of that law, it may not be worth exposure of home brew club activities, when changing the law is not guaranteed and could end up taking years,’ it says.
Moonshine memories
In some states, home brewing restrictions have deep cultural roots. The last two states to legalize home brewing were Alabama, which legalized it on May 9, and Mississippi, where it will be legal starting July 1. The legislation wasn’t an easy sell in either state—in part because both still have dry counties and memories of moonshine.
“We’ve been working on this for five years,’ said Craig Hendry, president of Raise Your Pints, which led the campaign in Mississippi. “One year it was an election year, so of course they’re not going to touch alcohol legislation then.”
Alabama’s debate was filled with filibusters and heated debate about the morality of allowing people to make their own beer.
“We’re just completely opening up the whole state to alcohol— every family, every home, every block,” Republican Rep. Arthur Payne said during a lengthy debate on the House floor. “I represent a district that has a strong family unit, and we don’t want to flood our neighborhoods with alcohol.”
Alabama’s anti-home brewing attitude was clear last fall when agents of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board visited Hop City, a craft beer and home brew supplier in Birmingham.
“They came in and raided us and said that we can’t do any home brewing business,’ said Spencer Overton, a former commercial brewer who was hired to be the store’s home brew manager.
According to Overton, the agents threatened felony charges and confiscated $7,000 worth of merchandise. “They took some books about home brewing, which was very Fahrenheit 451 of them,’ Overton said, referring to the futuristic Ray Bradbury novel in which fire fighters torch homes containing books.
Since home brewing was legalized, Hop City has stocked up on home brew supplies and Overton will be teaching home brew classes.
State Sen. Bill Holtzclaw said he pushed for the Alabama bill because many of his constituents are NASA scientists who were risking felony convictions—and their top-secret security clearances—by brewing at home.
“It was easy for me to get behind this as an individual rights issue, and as an economic development opportunity,” said Holtzclaw, a Republican.
He noted that many craft brewers started out brewing at home. “Rather than see it as threat, (craft brewers) see it as a way for folks who are really serious to leave the hobby realm and move over to the professional realm,” he said.
Swapping or selling?
During some of the state debates, local beer distributors have cautioned against allowing home brewers to act too much like commercial brewers without paying for licenses.
But most home brewers say they are determined to keep their craft distinct from the brewing business, even though the required equipment and ingredients are expensive.
“The spirit of home is not to make it to sell,’ said Spencer, the podcast host. “The spirit of home brewing is to make it to share.’
Sometimes this involves walking a difficult line. At a recent home brew competition in Washington, D.C. sponsored by craft brewer Samuel Adams, participating home brewers were required to cover their own costs, and all proceeds of the sold-out event were donated to charity.
“The beer is free, and Sam Adams is even providing some free snacks, but if you want to come you have to donate to a great local charity,’ the invitation said.
Josh Hubner, who heads DC Homebrewers, said his group negotiated a corkage fee with the hosting bar under a District of Columbia law that allows consumers to bring their own alcohol to a restaurant for a small fee. “If someone came and they said ‘ we want to drink the beer,’ we’d have to give it to them,’ he said. “People are doing this totally for the love of home brew.’
Hubner said he doesn’t want it to be legal for people to sell home brew. “All I’d really want would be a general acknowledgement that this is something that people do, and that it is beneficial to the community,’ he said.
Nevertheless, home brewing has become a training ground for craft brewers, which is why brewing companies such as Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada have become huge supporters. Samuel Adams sponsors an annual national home brewing competition and mass produces the winning beers.
According to data from the Brewers Association, craft brewing sales have been increasing dramatically and taking over a greater share of the domestic beer market. Total craft beer sales grew 17 percent in 2012 and 15 percent in 2011.
Jim Koch, who founded Samuel Adams, started as a home brewer and created the first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen.
“Most craft brewing came out of home brewing,’ Koch said. “This activity that used to be illegal everywhere has created 100,000 jobs in the last 30 years and probably encouraged the responsible consumption of flavorful beer. From the state point of view, the home brewer that you just legalized might be the employer of people in your state in the future.’
Koch’s advice to state lawmakers is to give home brewers the benefit of the doubt while putting reasonable safeguards in place: “Home brewers have an enormous amount of respect for the dignity of beer, so cut them a little slack,’ he said.
Stateline is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts that provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
Cast Your Vote Before May 28 For Pottsgrove’s New Look
POTTSTOWN PA – Focus groups have already had their say on creating a new logo, or brand identity, for the Pottsgrove School District. Now, Superintendent Shellie Feola declared in a Wednesday night (May 15, 2013) e-mail, it’s time for the public to voice its choice.
Feola distributed three new but still somewhat familiar looks (at right) created by its marketing consultants, The Communication Solutions Group of Jenkintown PA, as the candidates from which a winning brand will be chosen. And she invited district residents to go online, here, to cast ballots for their favorite by no later than May 28 (Tuesday).
All three designs feature Pottsgrove’s falcon mascot, in the traditional maroon-and-white colors, with upswept wings. Each is accompanied by the typeset words “Pottsgrove School District” divided into two lines, with Pottsgrove in larger-sized letters. All three also include a tagline, what Feola called a “brief statement that expresses the District¹s culture and aspirations.”
The brand themes vary, however, in the positioning and look of the falcon and other components. Two are flying to the right, a third to the left. Two are talon-less; a third looks ready for attack. A new gold-colored sweep or slightly curved line has been added to two, and a third color, a blue, added to one. Two use the tagline “Soaring to Excellence,” and a third relies on “Where opportunities take flight.”
The looks are the result of focus group research Communication Solutions conducted last month (April 2013) in separate “visioning sessions” of administrators, board members, staff representatives and community volunteers, Feola said. “The whole experience … afforded us the opportunity to gauge the level of pride, concern, expectations, and aspirations of the community for our schools,” she added.
Communications Solutions was paid $3,000 for its efforts.
Since the start of the year, Feola has regularly stated her interest in beefing up Pottsgrove’s public persona.
- She began issuing a bi-weekly newsletter on Board of School District decisions in part, she said, because she wanted to beat news outlets to the punch in describing them and their effects;
- She gave Technology Director Michael Wagman the additional title of Communications Director, and asked him to handle public relations chores; and
- The board, at Feola’s recommendation, hired Communications Solutions for an additional $12,000 annually to produce quarterly issues of the Pottsgrove Achiever community newsletter.
None of this is extraordinary for local school districts, many of which budget for public relations work conducted both within and outside their organizations. “We hope that communicating and internalizing our brand over time will play a small role in our comprehensive continuous improvement efforts,” Feola noted.
The next task will be to make the new brand, once popularly chosen, visible wherever appropriate, Feola said, “through all of our district publications, stationary, new website, and so on.”
Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ May 14 meeting):
- Cast Your Vote Before May 28 For Pottsgrove’s New Look
- Pottsgrove OKs New Textbooks As Standards Debated
- Pottsgrove School Board’s First May Meeting Tuesday
Images from the Pottsgrove School District
Brewing A Beer That’s Colorado Through And Through
How does a new craft brewer stand apart from the pack? A few have hitched their brewery onto the local food bandwagon. Sourcing the ingredients that form beer’s DNA straight from the fields around them.
Last year, more than 400 breweries opened nationwide. It shouldn’t surprise that the craft beer industry is growing at a tremendous rate. In Colorado, there are so many craft breweries they’re starting to blend together.
Kyle Carbaugh’s Wiley Brewing Company is half-finished. Right now it’s just bare floors, a framed bar, and four industrial size brew tanks in a former cinderblock factory in Greeley. The area is already home to numerous microbreweries – familiar names like New Belgium Brewing and Odell Brewing in Fort Collins. So Carbaugh says it became very clear that he needed to be different.
“At the end of the day, beer is an agricultural commodity through and through,” said Carbaugh. “There’s a huge thing going on with the local food movement and farmer’s markets and ‘know your farmer,’ that kind of thing. And the question came up to us, why isn’t anybody doing this?”
To answer Carbaugh’s question, breweries in the Pacific Northwest have perfected the art of a “farm to glass” beer. Few have sprouted elsewhere though. In southern Colorado, the idea is starting to take root.
Water, malt, hops, and yeast are the basic ingredients of beer. While breweries focus on the art of brewing, Jason Cody is perfecting the art of craft malt. Since 2008 Cody’s Colorado Malting Company has been malting barley and wheat from his own fields. He works with specialty grains too, like millet and quinoa. He then sells bags of malt to craft brewers throughout Colorado, like Kyle Carbaugh.
And business is booming.
“The first full year we were in business we sold 20,000 pounds inside the state of Colorado,” said Cody. “And our projection for this year, which we’re right on target with, is about half a million.” Even half a million pounds isn’t enough to satisfy brewery owners who want to create and sell a hyper local beer.
“There are only so many guys you can take care of. With brewers it’s repeat business,” said Cody. “So they brew a beer and then when it’s time to brew again they need more malt so they’ve got to come back and buy more malt. But then it’s hard to pick up new guys sometimes when you’re in that position, because what do you do?”
Steve Kurowski with the Colorado Brewers Guild says craft malting is just starting to take off, allowing breweries to source locally. “There’s just so much beer being brewed now, and the movement to supply local hops and local grain is just getting started,” said Kurowski. That supply hasn’t caught up with the demand yet.
Kyle Carbaugh is still trying to navigate where his supplies will come from for his unfinished brewery in Greeley. His malt will be Colorado grown, but his hops will come from Washington. Eventually he hopes to pour a completely Colorado grown glass of beer.
“It’s really all about telling a story, right?,” said Carbaugh. “Through a product or through materials.” Until his brewery opens up, it’s a story Carbaugh will still be writing.
–
All week, KUNC will be looking at craft beer in Colorado for our series Craft Beer Week.
Home Brewing Beer Boom Embraced By All 50 States – Huffington Post
This piece comes to us courtesy of Stateline. Stateline is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts that provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
Americans have been brewing beer in their homes since colonial times—both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were home brewers. Even so, a recent explosion of interest in the hobby has created tricky questions for state alcohol regulators.
As of July 1, home brewing will be legal in all 50 states. But many states still prohibit home brewers from transporting their beer to club meetings or competitions. Some states also limit the amount a home brewer can produce in a year.
The remaining restrictions rankle home brewers, who say swapping samples and competing with other brewers is what their culture is all about. “You could just drink your home brew at home, but you’d be missing out on a large part of the community,” said James Spencer, who hosts a popular podcast about home brewing.
Some states have been lax in enforcing such rules, but the hobby’s popularity and the growth of home brew supply stores is making it harder to justify a hands-off approach. About a million Americans brew their own beer at least once a year, according to the American Homebrewers Association. The group now has 37,000 members, up from 8,700 in 2005.
The tension has sparked legislative fights in several states. In 2010, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission shut down an annual home brew competition at the Oregon State Fair that had been held for 22 years. In response, the Oregon legislature scrapped state restrictions on where home brew can be made and consumed, and legalized fees and prizes at home brew competitions. Oregon home brewers also can engage in small-scale professional brewing at pubs.
Other states have taken similar action. Wisconsin lifted many of its restrictions in 2012, after the Schooner Home Brew Competition was spirited to a nearby city to appease uneasy city officials. And this year, Georgia and Iowa approved laws allowing home brewers to take their beer out of their homes. State lawmakers in Illinois and Missouri also are considering measures that would allow home brewers to participate in public festivals and competitions.
But the American Homebrewers Association advises its members to proceed cautiously in state capitols. “If it is technically not legal to share home brew at a club meeting in your state, but there has not been any enforcement of that law, it may not be worth exposure of home brew club activities, when changing the law is not guaranteed and could end up taking years,” it says.
Moonshine Memories
In some states, home brewing restrictions have deep cultural roots. The last two states to legalize home brewing were Alabama, which legalized it on May 9, and Mississippi, where it will be legal starting July 1. The legislation wasn’t an easy sell in either state—in part because both still have dry counties and memories of moonshine.
“We’ve been working on this for five years,” said Craig Hendry, president of Raise Your Pints, which led the campaign in Mississippi. “One year it was an election year, so of course they’re not going to touch alcohol legislation then.”
Alabama’s debate was filled with filibusters and heated debate about the morality of allowing people to make their own beer.
“We’re just completely opening up the whole state to alcohol— every family, every home, every block,” Republican Rep. Arthur Payne said during a lengthy debate on the House floor. “I represent a district that has a strong family unit, and we don’t want to flood our neighborhoods with alcohol.”
Alabama’s anti-home brewing attitude was clear last fall when agents of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board visited Hop City, a craft beer and home brew supplier in Birmingham.
“They came in and raided us and said that we can’t do any home brewing business,” said Spencer Overton, a former commercial brewer who was hired to be the store’s home brew manager. According to Overton, the agents threatened felony charges and confiscated $7,000 worth of merchandise. “They took some books about home brewing, which was very Fahrenheit 451 of them,” Overton said, referring to the futuristic Ray Bradbury novel in which fire fighters torch homes containing books.
Since home brewing was legalized, Hop City has stocked up on home brew supplies and Overton will be teaching home brew classes.
State Sen. Bill Holtzclaw said he pushed for the Alabama bill because many of his constituents are NASA scientists who were risking felony convictions—and their top-secret security clearances—by brewing at home.
“It was easy for me to get behind this as an individual rights issue, and as an economic development opportunity,” said Holtzclaw, a Republican.
He noted that many craft brewers started out brewing at home. “Rather than see it as threat, (craft brewers) see it as a way for folks who are really serious to leave the hobby realm and move over to the professional realm,” he said.
Swapping or Selling?
During some of the state debates, local beer distributors have cautioned against allowing home brewers to act too much like commercial brewers without paying for licenses.
But most home brewers say they are determined to keep their craft distinct from the brewing business, even though the required equipment and ingredients are expensive. “The spirit of home is not to make it to sell,” said Spencer, the podcast host. “The spirit of home brewing is to make it to share.”
Sometimes this involves walking a difficult line. At a recent home brew competition in Washington, D.C. sponsored by craft brewer Samuel Adams, participating home brewers were required to cover their own costs, and all proceeds of the sold-out event were donated to charity. “The beer is free, and Sam Adams is even providing some free snacks, but if you want to come you have to donate to a great local charity,” the invitation said.
Josh Hubner, who heads DC Homebrewers, said his group negotiated a corkage fee with the hosting bar under a District of Columbia law that allows consumers to bring their own alcohol to a restaurant for a small fee. “If someone came and they said ‘we want to drink the beer,’ we’d have to give it to them,” he said. “People are doing this totally for the love of home brew.”
Hubner said he doesn’t want it to be legal for people to sell home brew. “All I’d really want would be a general acknowledgement that this is something that people do, and that it is beneficial to the community,” he said.
Nevertheless, home brewing has become a training ground for craft brewers, which is why brewing companies such as Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada have become huge supporters. Samuel Adams sponsors an annual national home brewing competition and mass produces the winning beers.
According to data from the Brewers Association, craft brewing sales have been increasing dramatically and taking over a greater share of the domestic beer market. Total craft beer sales grew 17 percent in 2012 and 15 percent in 2011.
Jim Koch, who founded Samuel Adams, started as a home brewer and created the first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen.
“Most craft brewing came out of home brewing,” Koch said. “This activity that used to be illegal everywhere has created 100,000 jobs in the last 30 years and probably encouraged the responsible consumption of flavorful beer. From the state point of view, the home brewer that you just legalized might be the employer of people in your state in the future.”
Koch’s advice to state lawmakers is to give home brewers the benefit of the doubt while putting reasonable safeguards in place: “Home brewers have an enormous amount of respect for the dignity of beer, so cut them a little slack,” he said.
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