Legal implications of homebrew tasting

I was asked to part of a presentation for a local chapter of IEEE and another engineering society. They wanted to have, after the regular discussions, a presentation on how beer is made and a tasting. This would be held at a restaurant. My initially feeling is there would be some legal issues in doing this even if the restaurant allowed to have homebrew brought onto the property.

Does anyone have any insight into this.

Thank you,

Mike

Yes you would have to get permission from the restaraunt, but they might not give it to you. It depends on the state laws.

Well, I can try to help from a Public Health regulatory perspective, but the alcohol laws are a different issue. Everything served in a restaurant needs to have been prepared at a licensed and regulated establishment, whether it be the restaurant itself (licensed by the local authority) or by a commercial establishment licensed by the USDA. Unless there is some exception for "non-potentially hazardous foods" in your local (or state) health code, which beer is because of it's low pH, you MIGHT get away with it strictly from a Health Dept. perspective. You could call up the local health department and ask them if you are allowed to bring in non-potentially hazardous foods to a restaurant for a one-off event (just tell them "cookies" or something because "homebrew" wouldn't sound good to them.)

Now, from a BATF perspective, serving homebrew in a licensed establishment... there's got to be something wrong with that from a regulatory perspective, but I don't know much about that.

Or you could just go and do it if the restaurateur will allow it. The restaurateur is more liable than you are since he is allowing it to be served in his establishment. Just as an example of people breaking public health regulations... I worked for a county that the head commissioner threw a "road-kill" banquet every year, serving game animals to the public for a fee. The county health regulations specifically stated that no wild game could be served to the public. I guess since he was head commissioner, he was above the law.

My dad is in a golf league and they meet at a bar after they play. He started bringing homebrew for people to try after asking the owner. They didn't mind, and they liked getting to taste it too. That was even a recurring weekly thing and you only seem to want to do it once. Maybe just bring enough so that not everyone gets their own 12oz of each beer, maybe each beer gets shared by the table or something.

I take home brew to a local bar every few weeks with their consent. No probs. Of course I do not know if THEY are breaking any laws!

The local HB Club has tastings/meetings at the local brew pub...never had any problems bringing HB in...

Only your local alcohol control board knows for sure. In Oregon, it can be brought in provided it is in a sealed container, IF the restaurant has the proper license and you have the license holder's permission. It becomes the property of the restaurant and only OLCC licensed servers can dispense & serve it. You cannot take the leftovers home, so any keg would have to be empty and any extra bottles are your loss.

There is a wino exception, so winos can bring their own booze in and take partial bottles home. The licensing & permissions still apply.

[This might not be 100% correct, but I just took the server exam and this is what my notes say.]

AnOldUR said:

I don't see anywhere if this restaurant has a liquor license. If not, they may be OK with a BYO policy. Now, if someone gets in an accident on his or her way home there may be some liability on your part.

Click to expand...

I feel bad for you folks in states with social host liability. That has to make homebrew pub sessions stressful.

We bring cake into restaurants for private Birthday parties! We have a competition that has a crowd favorite beer...we let the spectators drink our beer. I don't see how this is any different than a hi breed of those two situations. Make sure that there is no 12 year olds getting trashed on home brew, and it's probably fine. Again, the owner of the restaurant can likely be of more assistance.

It's not like you're planning the GABF where there will be 25,000 people...Privacy at a private party is a great thing.

You could always "suggest" they spit it out after tasting.

I am in a class right now through the horticulture department called "Vines, Wines and Brews". Its all about the cultivation, history and "brewing" of coffee, tea, beer, wine and chocolate. At the end of each section, we do sensory evaluation. We were "required" to spit out the samples. I was ok with that since I'm not really looking to get my buzz on at 11am.

There is a restraunt in town that has a homebrew comp. they choose the 10 finalists and then the public buys tickets and they sample for two hours. There is no restriction on the amount that is sample other than what can fit into a 4 oz glass.

They have done this for 9 years now and I have not heard of any problems.

Well .. after talking to my wife about the idea she reminded me that a year ago when we were planning our wedding reception whit same place would not allow me to bring in homebrew for the reception. Granted that would have been a greater amount than this will be. I will let the person running the event talk to them and see what they say. Thank you for all the input.

I find that this type of situation entirely depends on the flexibility of the owner of the place youre holding this event at. There are obvious legal implications but like was previously stated, youre not holding a 25,000 person event... I wouldnt foresee a problem. although you never know