Gas station brew?

A friend of mine owns a gas station here in town and is considering selling my home brew at his store.

Does anyone know what kind of paperwork I, the home brewer, needs to fill out to make this legit? My friend already has the license to sell beer and wine in his gas station.

i believe you'd have to become a legitimate brewery.

so, whatever it takes to become that.

Isn't TX a 5%=ALE state? That aside, as a HOME brewer you are a home brewer. Your friend can sell any beer that a distributor sells him, but not yours. A little search and I found that the licensing fees for TX are about $2000 per year for Ale (for the brewer, not the retailer). Taking a wild guess here, but you have to put everything in new bottles and god I hope you have insurance.

I don't know much about Texas, but you don't want to do this. Brew and enjoy your beer.

Your friend is wearing his bad idea jeans. Don't do it. TABC will not approve.

You'd definitely have to check with the laws in your state, but at the very least you'd need a brewery license. It's illegal to sell homebrew, and in Texas, you may homebrew a beer of up to 4% alcohol by weight legally, as long as you are 200 gallons a year or less.

for more information on possibly selling your beer, contact:
State Alcohol Beverage Control Agency
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
5806 Mesa Dr.
Austin, TX 78731
Phone: 512.458.2500

Aside from state licensing requirements, there's federal requirements as well (stuff you need to do if you're planning to offer your beer for sale). The Feds will not be too thrilled with you if you're not all licensed up and duly paying tax on what you produce and sell.

And if think those regulations are bad, in Oregon you can't give homebrew away except under very limited conditions; one of which is 2 oz. samples and only one sample per person.

It seems like I definitely will not being doing this. Thanks for the quick replies.

YooperBrew said:

and in Texas, you may homebrew a beer of up to 4% alcohol by weight legally, as long as you are 200 gallons a year or less.

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wait, so my 7-8% IPA's I'm brewing are illegal?

Where did you see this 4% cutoff rule?

david_42 said:

And if think those regulations are bad, in Oregon you can't give homebrew away except under very limited conditions; one of which is 2 oz. samples and only one sample per person.

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Wh...What? That is ridiculous. I never looked into laws here in PA but I give away 6 packs and bombers all the time to my friends and family. They'll never take me alive!! haha

Man, I really love government bureocracy.

metaltim said:

wait, so my 7-8% IPA's I'm brewing are illegal?

Where did you see this 4% cutoff rule?

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State Alcoholic Beverages Code

"1.04. Definitions

(12) "Ale" or "malt liquor" means a malt beverage containing more than four percent of alcohol by weight.

(15) "Beer" means a malt beverage containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume and not more than four percent of alcohol by weight, and does not include a beverage designated by label or otherwise by a name other than beer."


Basically anything over 4% ABW isn't considered Beer, it's considered Ale or malt liquor. It doesn't really matter, though, as the homebrewing statue covers both, so you're completely legal.


"109.21. Home Production of Wine, Ale, Malt Liquor, or Beer

(a) The head of a family or an unmarried adult may produce for the use of his family or himself not more than 200 gallons of wine, ale, malt liquor, or beer, per year. No license or permit is required."

NJ requires a permit to homebrew both beer and wine. The part bolded below is the real kicker!

This permit will authorize the home manufacture of up to 200
gallons of malt alcoholic beverages (beer, ale, stout, porter) for
personal consumption only. Product manufactured under the
authority of this Permit may not be sold nor may it be used for any
purpose other than personal consumption at the address which
appears below, by the permittee, his/her family and their bona-fide
guests. This application must be accompanied by a fee of $15.00 in
the form of a Money Order or Check payable to the Division of
A.B.C.

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I guess my move to kegging will help keep me within the law, no more bottles to go! That is, if I ever get around to complying with the permitting process...

(Judas Priest lyrics always pop into my head when I'm doing something against the law...breakin the law, breakin the law)

drat said:

NJ requires a permit to homebrew both beer and wine. The part bolded below is the real kicker!



I guess my move to kegging will help keep me within the law, no more bottles to go! That is, if I ever get around to complying with the permitting process...

(Judas Priest lyrics always pop into my head when I'm doing something against the law...breakin the law, breakin the law)

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NJ requires a permit? This is the first time I've ever heard any mention of that. Just Googled it and apparently it was put into effect January 2008. That's just utter silliness...good thing me no speaky english...

Scimmia said:

(a) The head of a family or an unmarried adult may produce for the use of his family or himself not more than 200 gallons of wine, ale, malt liquor, or beer, per year. No license or permit is required."

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Lol! "The head of a family or an unmarried adult"? That is some archaic BS! So, getting married could eliminate someone's rights to make beer?

The head of the household thing is funny to me. So if I had a son over 21 still living at home who wanted to get into homebrewing, I would have to deny him and do it myself? haha

bknifefight said:

The head of the household thing is funny to me. So if I had a son over 21 still living at home who wanted to get into homebrewing, I would have to deny him and do it myself? haha

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Only if he is married!

Did the last three posters even read the law?


"The head of a family or an unmarried adult"

So the 21 year old who may or may not be married could still brew.

Interestingly enough, so far I haven't found any laws that say you must be 21 to brew in PA. That's assuming I don't drink the beer I brew, but I would never break the law...

firebird77 said:

Did the last three posters even read the law?


"The head of a family or an unmarried adult"

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I assumed the unmarried adult was mentioned because there is no family to be the head of if you are single. If a child lives at home are they a part of the family (not the head of, of course) or are they an unmarried adult? Both I guess.

firebird77 said:

Did the last three posters even read the law?


"The head of a family or an unmarried adult"

So the 21 year old who may or may not be married could still brew.

Interestingly enough, so far I haven't found any laws that say you must be 21 to brew in PA. That's assuming I don't drink the beer I brew, but I would never break the law...

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Did YOU read it? A person can be married and NOT be the head of a family.

firebird77 said:

Interestingly enough, so far I haven't found any laws that say you must be 21 to brew in PA. That's assuming I don't drink the beer I brew, but I would never break the law...

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Here's one. See 27 CFR 25.505(a).

"Any adult may produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale. An adult is any individual who is 18 years of age or older. If the locality in which the household is located requires a greater minimum age for the sale of beer to individuals, the adult shall be that age before commencing the production of beer. This exemption does not authorize the production of beer for use contrary to State or local law."

(emphasis mine)

Unless Pennsylvania lowered the legal drinking age to something other than 21, you must be 21 to brew beer in Pennsylvania (or any other state that likes receiving federal highway cash money).

LVBen said:

Did YOU read it? A person can be married and NOT be the head of a family.

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Maybe it's worded that way in case the head of the household doesn't meet the definition of adult.

In modern Texas, it's kind of hard to imagine that, but back in the day, I could see it maybe happening where a kid who was pretty young would be off on his own and thus the "head of household," even though he (or she) wasn't technically an adult.