Anyone else live down the street from "That Guy"?

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northernlad

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I am confident I have a pretty good grasp on the English language. My neighbor, however, does not seem to understand the words coming out of my mouth.
3 weeks ago he waltzed up my driveway salivating at the thought that my IC was a coil for distilling.
No pal, sorry to disappoint, its just my wort chiller. Commence the obligatory
"Watcha doin?"
"Making Beer" blah blah blah.
Feeling uncharacteristically neighborly I gave him one of my ESB's to try.
"Hey, this is pretty good."
"Thanks"
"How much can I buy this for?"
"I can't sell it but I'll give you a couple to take home"
After a couple beers in the span of 10 minutes
"I'd sure like to buy some of this off you"
"I can't sell my beer"
"Man, I gotta buddy and we've been lookin for an investment"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Man, I gotta get him over here" and off he scampers to whatever singlewide trailer he stumbled out of.
FF 3 weeks to today (haven't seen him since last brew day) as I am weeding the garden.
Thankfully I brewed yesterday. I cannot have people around when I brew; I forget stuff.
"Hey, I got a couple buddies with bars that would really like to have something like yours available"
"I can't sell my beer"
"Well, it would go to me and then them"
"Sigh"
I have been thinking of a way to get around this conversation without being a dick for 3 weeks.
"The truth is, It takes about 6 hours each time and I don't have time to produce more than I already do. Plus, I have one more batch to make in 3 weeks and then I stop for the summer"
"Well can I buy a half rack off of you?"
 
Sell the recipe...you may not be able to sell your beer a homebrewer....but this *****nozzle obviously will pay you so just give him the damn recipe and make some cashola....that's not illegal...it's just words...not beer!
 
I am completely not jealous at all. sorry such a tool lives down the way from you.
 
Once you feed them or make eye contact they keep coming back.
Maybe give him a few bad ones with alot of floaters and he might go away. Lol
 
People have a hard time grasping that we can not sell our beer in 99% of the country. (I think there may be 1 state that has an exception to this.) You can try to explain this to them until you are red in the face and they still will "refuse to understand" because they think they will be able to "cash in". I have a few family members, mostly in-laws, that had this problem.

Over Easter I was again bombarded with"This is great, when are you going to start to sell it?" Mixed with "Can I buy some?"

Solution:"I have been doing some research so that we can legally sell my beer. It looks like I will need a minimum of 6 people willing to invest $100,000 each to be able to open a small Brew Pub. Can I count on you to be the 1st of my 6?"

Once they realize the investment required, they suddenly become happy to just "have a cold one." Just do not let them off the hook so easy, try to get these people to brew their own beer. Invite them to a club meeting and HBT!
 
I do what you did, tell the friend/neighbor that its illegal for me to sell beer I make without all the licenses and taxes. I usually follow that up by telling them that its a hobby for me, not a business, just like baking bread, which I also do. Just because I bake bread doesn't mean I want to open a bakery.
 
I too have experienced this. Coupled with a local brewer who is a little more "free" with his beer in this respect; he's basically provided HB at places/events that I wouldn't feel all that comfortable doing so, because the line is just a bit too blurry to me.

I have a good friend who was opening a business and he wanted me to produce a couple of kegs for them to have on tap at their grand opening. I was so so on this idea, because we live in a college town, and there has been quite a crackdown in recent years.

I was non-commital at first, and then the size of this grand-opening and the personalities that were going to be there (it's a bike shop, and there is a big grassroots movement that includes lots of local politicians--city council, state rep, stuff like that, that want to see small businesses like this grow here). I started to get a bit concerned that a loose word here or there might cause me more grief than good-will and I had to give him the firm no. Fortunately when I laid it out, he understood my concerns without much hassling. I did give he and his partner a keg later, for themselves.

I enjoy bringing stuff to small gatherings and stuff where I know a good number of the people, but, when it starts to be a blurry line between where it's going to go, I'm less inclined. It's not all that uncommon for the black and whites to show up to about anything with a group of people standing in a front yard with glasses carrying on a bit too loud for some neighbor.

Just last summer I was at another homebrewer's place for a hog roast and the neighbor he didn't invite to the party called the cops after about a half hour (at 5PM in the evening, no less), the cops showed up and then kept coming back and hassling us about being out in the street (it's a cul-de-sac), about every half hour until I left. Some of the party-goers weren't quite used to HB and it didn't look like it could remain carefree with half a hog still left to eat.

Bottom line is I think somebody bending the rules too far would have more backlash than any financial gain that person may conceivably reap. We're living in a sue-happy nanny-state, and I'd rather some people miss out on my beer than me having to lawyer up because of something nice I tried to do for somebody else. Good deeds and all that..
 
If he can't take the hint, just give him Zamial's approach and tell him fine, If you want me to sell, I need 150G from you and you friend each to get the licensing and brew pub started so that you can legally sell your beer. Once you see this money up front, then you will start researching further.
 
Just about everyone new I give a homebrew to asks that question and then have to explain the laws.. But then I tell them donations are welcome but I won't give out more than 2ltrs(i only keg) at a time.. One guy that came over last week for my bro-inlaws birthday who is becoming a regular face said he wants to buy me the next batch :) I pointed him to the website and said pick one and I will order it when I get your money...
 
1) Learn Japanese
2) Wear Hello Kitty ensemble
3) Speak to him entirely in Japanese while wear said ensemble
 
I've had similar experiences with a few people (obviously, not about brewing, 'cause I haven't brewed yet). Fortunately for me, I have a very short fuse, so normally people don't make me repeat myself more than once.
And the few of them who commit the crime to make me say the same thing 3 times, usually stop talking to me right away...:D
 
I just tell people to put a $50K bond up in my name. I figure that's enough to cover the bootlegging charge and lawyers' fees.

B
 
Buy a T-shirt that says, "No, I can't sell you my homebrew!" That way, when he comes over, you don't have to say ANYTHING to him! You can just turn and stare at him until he goes away...
 
Buy a T-shirt that says, "No, I can't sell you my homebrew!" That way, when he comes over, you don't have to say ANYTHING to him! You can just turn and stare at him until he goes away...

Something tells me this guy would stare blankly right back and not see the shirt...
 
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