Selling beer?

Is there a way to sell small amounts of beer? Eventually I'd like to start my own brewpub but that's many years down the road and most likely after my military career. However until that point is there a way to sell at say small events and such legally? I know a friend of mine in cali used to have a liquor license that let him sell on the streets during events in the arts community area of his town. He was strictly limited to selling alcohol during art exhibits and other such events like farmers markets. Does anyone know if any similar license exists in arizona that would allow me to do just that only using my brew?

I think you may be confusing two types of "licensing." Your friend's liquor license was probably to allow a person or organization to sell beer or wine at a special event. You, on the other hand, would need to go through all the approvals needed to be a commercial brewery - different kinds of licenses, approvals and taxes. Or was your friend selling beer that he had made, also?

You might do a search here for nanobreweries - there are some threads that might interest you. Also, www.basicbrewing.com had a podcast on a guy who went into partnership with an existing bar to setup a nanobrewery - which sounded interesting.

I know if you are selling very small scale you can say you are selling the bottles as some sort of decrative piece and the contents are a gift. I've seen it before on eBay (who doesn't allow the selling of alcohol). Still, be careful...Mr. Lawman might not see it the same way.

JebCkr said:

Mr. Lawman might not see it the same way.

Click to expand...

Jeb, 'might' is not the right word here I'll edit it here with my changes

JebCkr said:

Mr. Lawman definitely will not see it the same way.

Click to expand...

There's no "easy" way to do it. And there's no way around the law to do it. An medium of exchange for homebrew is illegal. It's that simple, and there is no way around it, it was setup that way in 1978 for a reason. So get that idea out of your head. You won't be able to do it legally as a homebrewer.

But if you are serious about doing it, then this is the site to start wadiing your way through.

TTB.Gov Brewery Qualification

And Probrewer.com is the forum, like HBT for professional brewers, they are bound to have help for people serious about it.

There are no loopholes from our end. The homebrewing laws are set up around the idea of personal consumption only So there's no point in discussing ways around it like folks often do.

If you want to make money from your talents a brewer, there's really only one way to do it, and it involves a ton of hurdles and some cash. So best of luck to you.

And as a member of the military let me also caution you on running a business from government quarters. Sometimes you can do it with the appropriate approvals but it is not a sure thing. The rules have recently been loosened up so spouses could work from home but there are still restrictions. If you live off post it isn’t an issue, in this regard at least.