Absolute, base-line minimum to sell your homebrew beer?

Hi all,

I'm doing some basic research into what it would take, the absolutely bare-minimum, to legally sell my home brew in Illinois/Chicago-area.

I understand that I will need some equivalent of a brewer's license. And Illinois recently passed a bill that allows some level of self-distribution. ($25 for an IL "craft brewer's liquor license")

And I am assuming there is a need for a liquor retail license ($500)

But all I essentially want is: To legally be allowed to have a person walk up to me, hand me $10, and buy a 6 pack from me that I brewed.

So what am I missing? Do I need to actually set up an official "brewery" in a non-residential zoned area? Do I need to go jump through all the regulatory hoops that a larger-scale brewer would have to go through?

 

Yup,it'll take a lot more than a cheap license (which most aren't) & some ale pales to sell beer. There are no shortcuts in most states. And it seems to me it all has to be stainless steel. And inspections,etc.

 

Bummer. I was thinking of how neat it would be to sell homebrew at a farmer's market.:rockin:

 

Typically, you have to have an actual brewery license, which means you have to have space in an area that is zoned to allow you to produce beer (and is nt your home). Local an state regulations vary, but this is pretty much set in stone, and comes down from the federal level.

 

Any state or local regulations are moot until you meet federal qualifications with the Treasury Dept, ATF. Filing, approval, licensing, site inspection, posting of brewer's bond, etc, etc, must all be accomplished first. In short you CANNOT sell homebrew. Any alcoholic beverage for sale must be produced in a licensed, inspected facility (not your house) and that pesky federal excise tax on alcohol must be addressed. Once you've passed that hurdle you can worry about state and local liquor laws regarding distribution and sale.

Plea to the moderators: Can we have a big sticky post on this subject?

 

Knowing several people in the process of jumping through hoops in the Chicago suburbs as I type, you need the following:

A separate location to brew your beer that has been inspected and approved by the TTB as well as all local governing agencies
A brewing license
A distributor or distributor license
A liquor tax security bond posted to be no less than $25K to ensure you pay all associated liquor taxes
That's just the basics depending upon where you live, you can go to the TTB site for more info as well as the state of Illinois site.

The process is not difficult, they actually want you to sell beer because it generates tax income, state/federal is easy, local is a bitch

Oh and BtW, you have to spend all the money up front before they will grant you your license

Sorry, it's just not as easy as you would like it to be......,,

 

And in many states, some board has to "bless" every label design.

 

So true, which is why Lagunitas has a beer named "Censored". Seems the govt didn't think naming it Kronik was a good idea....

 

Censored? Sounds like someone in the marketing team needs to get fired.

 

Yep: http://www.lagunitas.com/beers/censored.html It's actually quite good....

 

Thanks to all of the illuminating posts, I appreciate it.

First, great post. Thanks.

Secondly, I never really expected it to be "easy", but I am somewhat surprised there is no legal acknowledgment of a lower tier of brewer.

Additionally, coming from an industry (Internet/tech) that has possibly the lowest bar for entry of startups and easily bootstrapped companies, there is a bit of a culture shock.

I can start my own web development business for relative pennies.

But again, thanks for all the great responses. Sounds like this would be potentially a multi-decade project for a younger guy like myself.

Who knows, maybe 20-30 years down the line I could be in a position to realistically think about it. It's either that, or I'm spending all my money on a boat when I turn 60.

 

I would go for the boat. I like beer but....... You can brew on a boat too, I think.

 

You probably CAN sell homebrew on international waters?

 

Along with: I want to start a brewery. I would contribute my knowledge that I have gained in the last two years of research of federal laws and TTB regulations.

 

Breweries and boats are quite similar.
They bleed cash the wrong way most of the time.

 

There's a place in my neighborhood that calls themselves a garage nano brewery... they have unannounced open to the public parties and take donations at the door rather than selling beer...

I suspect they'll be shut down eventually...

 

OT. Uinta whitch is a local brewery has a beer called "Dubhe imperial black IPA" it's one of my favorites they brew it with hemp seed, and the name was not censored, I guess it's a lesser degree of extremity though.

 

They will likely get hit both for illegal sales of alcohol plus operating an illegal club without a license and within a residence.