Bill would allow home brewers to drink suds outside their homes

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsinites who make their own brew could drink it outside their homes, under a bill proposed in the state Legislature.

GOP Senate President Mike Ellis and Assembly Republican Dean Kaufert, both of Neenah, are helping out a home-brewing club in Appleton.

About 30 members used to compare each other’s homemade beer and wine concoctions – until state Revenue officials ruled last year that home brewers could not leave the premises where they were made.

The ruling was made after Racine officials checked the legal status of a home-brewing sampling and tasting contest held as a fundraiser for a drum and bugle corps. But after the Revenue Department’s ruling, the competition was scrapped last summer.

Ellis called the department’s interpretation “ridiculous,” and he and Kaufert are leading an effort to allow home brewers to make up to 200 gallons per year and share it with friends, clubs, and competitors without having to pay state taxes.

The Wisconsin Homebrewers Association drafted the bill, based on a similar measure passed in Oregon.