Greetings from Beer Hell (Aka Alabama)

Hi all,

As referenced in the topic title, I am stuck in Birmingham Alabama, one of the nation's most restrictive states for beer (no abv above 6%, no containers over 16oz., no shipping in out of state beers, and technically illegal to home brew but that one's not enforced), so after seeing the early successes a couple of friends were having with their brews I decided to jump in and try my hand at it. Hopefully this will give me the opportunity to try at least the equivalents of some of the beers I'm missing around here.

Anyway, it's great to see a community with such a wealth of knowledge who are also willing to help out the newbies like myself.

So cheers and happy brewing!

Welcome! Those rules/laws seem very restrictive. I am glad not to live there.

Welcome

Hi Ed.

Welcome. I just posted my first time on New Years day. I'm in Anniston, and I truly feel your pain. Check out [URL="http://www.freethehops.org/"]. There is organized effort in Alabama to get these laws changed.

Later.

Hi Ed,

not as bad as you might think.(here in Alabama) Your in B'ham? nice HBS there called ALABREW you can find the things you need to get started. there is also Werners trading post in CULLMAN. Im new to brewing also (almost 1 yr) but you cant go wrong here @HBT. everyone is very helpful.

Welcome, you don't have it too bad i'm getting ready to move into beer hell. Oklahoma. I'm not totally up to date on all their current laws but i'm pretty sure no beer over 3.2% is the real tear jerker. Then again the no homebrewing "law" atleast Alabama and Utah have something in the works to reverse the law, don't think that Oklahoma does though.

And I thought Utah sucked...

Y'all () should join the AHA (American Homebrewers Association) as they work to change those anti homebrewing laws and promote pro beer laws in general.

Welcome aboard. Don't give up hope, laws will change some day. It was not permitted to sell beers above 8% in regular stores here in Vermont until just this last year. They had to be sold in State run liquor stores and they did not carry much selection. There still is not much selection overall but it is getting better.

Pffffttt!!! Weaklings... I'm in hell, period. Real hell, Mississippi!

Nahhh just kidding, I like it here, mostly... sometimes! But I do feel yalls pain as there are about a half dozen states that can claim to be bier hell!

+1 for joining forces with Free the Hops.

Schlante,
Phillip

I'm with Phillip. Real hell is in MS. I just moved from Tupelo.

Trust me. It's bad.

North Carolina used to be just like that until we had a movement called "Pop The Cap" .Then we went from 6% up to 16% .Hang in there make your own it'll be better than what you can buy right now.

Sorry, Beer Hell is Utah. I've lived in Bama and Utah, both after living in Beer Heaven (Deutschland).

Is that picture in your sig at the Dragon's Tail?

Welcome to HBT I am in Birmingham too. If you have not been to Alabrew yet its a great place with great people running it.

Welcome from another Birmingham native.

EdWort said:

Sorry, Beer Hell is Utah. I've lived in Bama and Utah, both after living in Beer Heaven (Deutschland).

Click to expand...

That may be true... but you've never lived in Misisipi so you can't say for sure!!! Come on over sometime I'll rustle up some of the boys and we'll take you snipe huntin! Hold that coker sack tight now ya hear! Anyone that doesn't get that reference is the perfect person to take snipe hunting!

Schlante,
Phillip

Welcome and look at a few laws from Utah. They suck just as much. God bless Illinois, just not our Governer.

kb9vzh said:

Welcome and look at a few laws from Utah. They suck just as much. God bless Illinois, just not our Governer.

Click to expand...

Come now, I think Blagoyavich needs more prayers than most! Heck it's going to take some kind of blessing to get him out of his mess... or perhaps a slick lawyer!

Schlante,
Phillip

brewinginalabama - Glad to see that free the hops is getting strong support outside of Birmingham and Huntsville. I've actually been a member with them for about a year and a half now. Hopefully we'll be able to get the new laws through the legislature this term assuming the Senate can avoid filibustering half the bills that come before them again this year.

muscleshoalsbrewer - Funny that you mention Alabrew, they were the ones that got a couple of my best friends started and is also where I've been sending all of my business so far. It's definitely a great shop but it is a royal pain to find if all you have is the address.

Petey - When you get up to OK check to see if you can get the higher ABV brews at the liquor store. I used to travel a lot in the mid west and a lot of states had those low abv limits for beer bought at the grocery store or gas station but most allow you to get the good beers somehow. I think that Mississippi is actually the only other state in the US that doesn't allow beer over 6% to be sold in any manner.

MVKTR2 and chefchris - I feel your pain on Mississippi as mentioned in my reply to Petey. I spent a good bit of time traveling around that state as well and it is probably the only other state that is as frustrating as Alabama. Though the blue laws in Kentucky and Tennessee are also pretty bad depending on the county.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

Cheers!

MVKTR2 said:

That may be true... but you've never lived in Misisipi so you can't say for sure!!! Come on over sometime I'll rustle up some of the boys and we'll take you snipe huntin! Hold that coker sack tight now ya hear! Anyone that doesn't get that reference is the perfect person to take snipe hunting!

Schlante,
Phillip

Click to expand...

Phillip, remind me not to go huntin' with you, Bro'. Lessin of course you want to borrow my patented snipe call! War Eagle, and Beers y'all.
Ken

Beers to all of my Alabama brothers, with I was back in those woods, the way they USED to be.

I'm from Bama originally. I've got a friend who raves about Alabrew. He's actuallyt coming over this weekend and we are gonna brew some...

Greetings from another Bham homebrewer. +1 on Alabrew for most of your needs. Great set of original and clone recipes for new or lazy brewers. Funny story about the laws. I was introduced to homebrewing in October as a birthday present. In december I found out it was illegal to homebrew in Alabama. I am telling my wife about this and finish it by saying " but they won't be coming into our house just to look for homebrew so we are safe." Next day we get a call from the alarm company saying we have a code and have to meet the cops at the house. It turns out to be a false alarm but I have a cop meet me at the house and walk through with me to make sure there was no break in. First thing she does in the basement is open the brew closet and shine the flashlight on two full carboys and a plastic bucket and then sees like 250 bottles on all the shelves. She asks me what it was for and I just said I was saving them to take to the recycling center. But still it had to be the day after I said there wouldnt be any cops just wandering through our house looking for beer.

Hey, any of you guys from Birmingham know of any good places locally to get cheap used corny kegs? After these first few batches that I've bottled, I definitly think kegging is the way I want to go for most of my brews.

(Plus it gives me an excuse to build a nice keezer ;-) )

All I have to say on the Bama beer thing has probably already been posted. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZoTJzh13n8]YouTube - Alvin Holmes on Beer[/ame]

johnnyc said:

All I have to say on the Bama beer thing has probably already been posted. YouTube - Alvin Holmes on Beer

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. I was listening to that live last year and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I have told so many friends about it but no one has believed how rediculous holmes was with that speech

How's the Harpoon IPA? I love that beer.....


If you find a source for the cornies let us know. I will need a keezer pretty soon.


I guess I'm the only one having any issues with Alabrew. They seem to question everything I do. I've been brewing all grain for about a year now.....

Aubie Stout said:

How's the Harpoon IPA? I love that beer.....


If you find a source for the cornies let us know. I will need a keezer pretty soon.


I guess I'm the only one having any issues with Alabrew. They seem to question everything I do. I've been brewing all grain for about a year now.....

Click to expand...

Just racked it to secondary today so it's nowhere. Ear ready but I did yltry a sip of it and I think it is going to turn out really well.

As to alabrew, they definitely have strong opinions about how they thing things should be done but I am definitly willing to deal with that small hassle in exchange fir having a fairly well stocked home brew supply shop near by.

That Holmes thing was real? I thought it was made up. Oh, and how can you have a Home Brew store in a state where Home Brewing is illegal? I realize it may not be enforced, but it seems bold.

T-rags said:

That Holmes thing was real? I thought it was made up. Oh, and how can you have a Home Brew store in a state where Home Brewing is illegal? I realize it may not be enforced, but it seems bold.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately it was real...the guy is an absolute idiot along with most of our state's legislators.

As to having a home brew shop in a state that doesn't allow home brewing, I guess it comes down to the fact that the federal government allows up to 200 gallons of beer to be brewed by a multiperson household so trying to actually prosecute someone would end up being pretty difficult. You also have to realize how cluttered Alabama's constitution (longest constitutional document in the world) is since that's where all these laws are. We still have a ton of amendments on the books that while ignored have never officially been removed.

Ed_ said:

Unfortunately it was real...the guy is an absolute idiot along with most of our state's legislators.

As to having a home brew shop in a state that doesn't allow home brewing, I guess it comes down to the fact that the federal government allows up to 200 gallons of beer to be brewed by a multiperson household so trying to actually prosecute someone would end up being pretty difficult. You also have to realize how cluttered Alabama's constitution (longest constitutional document in the world) is since that's where all these laws are. We still have a ton of amendments on the books that while ignored have never officially been removed.

Click to expand...

Ahhh your tax dollars at work... that's why we no longer have statesmen. Now they're "lawmakers". That's about all 90% of em are worth, making up more laws (note freedom doesn't come from law/laws)... the other 10% are good for speed bumps and such!

Schlante,
Phillip

MVKTR2 said:

Ahhh your tax dollars at work... that's why we no longer have statesmen. Now they're "lawmakers". That's about all 90% of em are worth, making up more laws (note freedom doesn't come from law/laws)... the other 10% are good for speed bumps and such!

Schlante,
Phillip

Click to expand...

Well said