My home brew almost got served in a bar! Oops!

To set the stage, I work at a golf course. I take care of all the maintenance equipment. I know the bartender at the club house likes craft brews so I figured I would share some of my Milk Stout. I whipped up a simple label via www.beerlabelizer.com. I went up on Monday to give him and the General Manager a few bottles. I gave the bartender and his new assistant a bottle and told them to take them home and try them. Well they put them in the beer cooler and forgot them at the end of their shift. Later that afternoon the waitress gets a few customers. They order sandwiches and, Milk Stout. We just started carrying Left Hand Milk Stout. The waitress goes into the fridge and grabs the first Milk Stout she sees, mine. Being there are only 2 in there she tells the manager that she is going to use the last Milk Stouts in the cooler. Confused, as the Left Hand was only delivered the day before, the manager takes a look. She notices my name on the label and tells the waitress to take a closed look. All laughs after that! I may have missed my big break there. Oh well. Close call.

Maybe you can have them make that mistake more often!!

2.4 seconds after the club sells your homebrew, ATF ninjas break through the windows, rough up the bartenders, arrest everyone, and close the bar for a month.

Or at least that's what they say. In the real world, I'm pretty sure white collar country clubs are fairly immune from blue laws

As long as they gave it to them it would be cool.

TopherM said:

2.4 seconds after the club sells your homebrew, ATF ninjas break through the windows, rough up the bartenders, arrest everyone, and close the bar for a month.

Or at least that's what they say. In the real world, I'm pretty sure white collar country clubs are fairly immune from blue laws

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Pretty sure no one really cares....costs more to investigate/prosecute so it's really not worth their resources (time and money).

This is the government you're talking about though. Any way they can possibly waste our tax dollars they will.

Phunhog said:

Pretty sure no one really cares....costs more to investigate/prosecute so it's really not worth their resources (time and money).

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But if the inspector from his state's liquor control commission happens to be in there for an inspection, and finds unlicensed/untaxed alcohol that didn't come through the proper distribution chain, OR the delivery guy from the local distributor comes in for a delivery and goes to load the cooler and sees unlicensed/untaxed alcohol that didn't come through THEIR distribution chain and complains to the liquor control commission, they could have their liquor license pulled immediately. At least until it gets straightened, which means money lost...

My BIL is the past commodore of a boat club, and often runs the bar, to maintain their license, ALL alcohol has to be purchased through their distributor. That means even if it's a busy Saturday night, and they run out of Crown Royal for Crown and Cokes they CAN'T even go to the liquor store next door and pick some up....

There was an article posted on here a couple years ago for a bar that was hosting a homebrew contest, and the distributor got in a snit about booze that didn't come through them in the bar, ratted on them to the LCC, and they lost their license for awhile...It cost the bar a lot of TIME AND MONEY to get it cleared up.

It may not be worth it to the TTB, on the local level that could be some nice fines collected...

Good point! I have heard about bars getting in trouble for running down to Costco in an emergency when they are out of a certain alcohol. So what you have to do is SAVE those empty bottles and refill them with the appropriate homebrew!!






I am kidding....mostly

ALL alcohol has to be purchased through their distributor

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That's not just a MI thing, BTW. That's true for all three-tier states, which there were 38 of them last time I checked.

There's a couple guys in our homebrew club that own small breweries. One of them sells to a bar that is literally across the street from his brewery, like 50-60 yards away. To legally sell them his beer, he has to ship/drive kegs about 70 miles away to the distributor in Lakeland, then the distributor in Lakeland delivers it 70 miles back to the bar across the street, and the brewery has to pay handsomely for the priviledge.

All designed, of course, to artificially drive up the price of beer to a certain price point that "theoretically" keeps the beer-drinking public from being drunk all the time.

Silly Wabbits