Alabama...**sigh**

[MotorcycleMatt]

I don't see ABC raiding the local Publix for their bread yeast, pots, pans, strainers, grain, or turkey basters.

any teen would easily be able to go buy some juice, bread yeast, and sugar and make some hooch, and if i had to guess most cashiers wouldnt be smart enough to know what those ingredients were for. Its a stupid law, that really doesnt protect anyone.

 

[MVKTR2]

Any updates? What happened when the gestapo violent abc 'authorities returned?

Although confiscating books sounds quite fascist.

Confiscating books is ALWAYS fascist. Ideas are dangerous to someone no matter if their intent is good or bad. The most dangerous idea of all is an idea that opposes the right of the individual to decide for him/her-self what is right or wrong.

 

[alestateyall]

One update. The company Hop City removed all extra homebrew gear voluntarily and announced yesterday they received their license to sell liquor. Their tweet seemed like they were happy.

Kraig Torres (@HopCity)
9/24/12, 3:29 PM
Proud to say we're now "legal" in AL- ABC Board just gave us our beer/wine license. We're finally set to open this week...on Thurs!

 

[aubiecat]

One update. The company Hop City removed all extra homebrew gear voluntarily and announced yesterday they received their license to sell liquor. Their tweet seemed like they were happy.

Kraig Torres (@HopCity)
9/24/12, 3:29 PM
Proud to say we're now "legal" in AL- ABC Board just gave us our beer/wine license. We're finally set to open this week...on Thurs!

Maybe the homebrew legalization bill will pass this year and they can put their homebrew merchandise back out.

 

[MVKTR2]

Thanks for the update guys! Good luck to HopCity and all 'oppressed' homebrewers (I know it's a bit of a heavy word, but the jail time one faces for operating outside asinine laws is oppressive).

 

[FTG-05]

Whattawort: That's actually incorrect. Several years back, the homebrewers approached FTH about pushing the homebrew bill (not a constitutional amendment, just a change to the code of Alabama). At the time, FTH made it clear that they would support any endeavor, but it wouldn't be their highest priority until the ABV, bottle size, and brewpub bills were passed. So it was mutually decided that Right To Brew would push the bill themselves. At the end of the most recent legislative session, FTH made a friendly offer to take over the process. This meant finding a new sponsor, rewriting the bill, and essentially starting from scratch. After some discussion, the RTB people decided that it didn't make sense to start from scratch and could likely set the entire process back by 2-3 years.

To clarify, FTH is 100% supportive of the RTB effort. They've thrown what resources they can behind the bill, and they've used their mailing lists to call on members to email the legislators. The support FTH has provided in the past will continue. The only thing RTB said no to was to completely give up the process, the relationships RTB members had established with their legislators and bill sponsors, and the progress that had already been made to start the process over. FTH stated that they agreed with the decision from RTB, and some of the FTH leaders noted that their success has been with bills with direct commercial interests, and there's no certainty that they would have made any more progress pushing the homebrew bill than RTB has.

Also, the bill was on the verge of passage last year. It made it through the house, and it had the votes in the senate. The problem was that it ran out of time before the session ended. The governor is good friends with the bill sponsor (and in Alabama it takes a simple majority vote in both houses to override a veto). The exact same bill is being submitted this year, and there is a very good chance it will finally pass. FTH may take up an effort in future years to improve the bill after we can ensure that homebrewers can't be convicted of a felony in this state.

Needs to be said again, IMO. I think we're going to get this done this year. The HC raid is also probably going to help in that regard, although this sin't over yet.

 

[CGVT]

OUR VIEW: Repeal ban on home-brewing in wet counties
Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 7:05 AM
By Mike Hollis, The Huntsville Times
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Fifty years ago and before, it made sense for the state to have a law banning the

sale and possession of the equipment and ingredients to make beer and wine to drink at home.
At the time, the sale and possession of any sort of intoxicating drink or beverage was illegal in most Alabama counties, and sheriffs spent a lot of time and made a big to do when they busted up moonshine stills deep in the piney woods.
Times and attitudes change, and that's why the Legislature should repeal the law that bans the sale and possession of home beer brewing equipment and ingredients in cities and counties where alcohol isn't banned.
The subject comes up because of a raid agents of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board staged last week at a beer and wine store in Birmingham, Hop City Craft Beer and Wine. Three agents seized immersion chillers, carboys and other supplies, including literature on home brewing. (The ABC insists this was not a "raid" but an inspection, and that Hop City had been warned that home brewing equipment had to go.)
ABC agents really have no choice but to make a seizure in a case like this because that's what the law requires. Here's what it says: "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation in this state to manufacture, sell, give away or have in possession any still, apparatus, appliance or any device or substitute therefore to be used for the purpose of manufacturing any prohibited liquors or beverages."
Many of the items used in home brewing, including buckets, grain and yeast, can be found in grocery and home improvement stores, although not all of it in one place. That's apparently why Hop City made headlines.
David Peacock, an attorney for the ABC Board, explained it this way to The Birmingham News' Madison Underwood: "You can have sugar, you can have malt, you can have hops, you can have tubing, copper and everything else, but if you put it all together in a store and market it like it's going to be home brewing stuff and have a book about how to do it, it's a problem."
If you know anything about Alabama, you won't be surprised to hear that it's is one of only two states where home brewing is illegal. Of course, Mississippi is the other one. There was a time when residents of every small Alabama town with an Episcopal congregation chuckled about the little old woman who made muscadine wine, only for communion, you understand. The sheriffs in these places never dared mess with the free exercise of religion.
Alabama's law on this point for communities where alcoholic beverages are legal is an artifact of the prohibition era. This is the Age of the Internet (and UPS). For a trifling sum, you can have delivered (inconspicuously) to your front door every piece of equipment and ingredient you need to brew up all types of beers to drink at home.
For some, home brewing is a hobby as satisfying and rewarding as any other, maybe more so. And so long as beer and wine can be bought legally in a community, there's little reason to outlaw the local sale of the stuff to make them.
By Mike Hollis, for the editorial board. Email: [email protected].
Inappropriate post? Alert us.
Related topics: editorial

 

[dannypo]

OUR VIEW: Repeal ban on home-brewing in wet counties
Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 7:05 AM
By Mike Hollis, The Huntsville Times
Follow

6

Share
Email
Print
Fifty years ago and before, it made sense for the state to have a law banning the

sale and possession of the equipment and ingredients to make beer and wine to drink at home.
At the time, the sale and possession of any sort of intoxicating drink or beverage was illegal in most Alabama counties, and sheriffs spent a lot of time and made a big to do when they busted up moonshine stills deep in the piney woods.
Times and attitudes change, and that's why the Legislature should repeal the law that bans the sale and possession of home beer brewing equipment and ingredients in cities and counties where alcohol isn't banned.
The subject comes up because of a raid agents of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board staged last week at a beer and wine store in Birmingham, Hop City Craft Beer and Wine. Three agents seized immersion chillers, carboys and other supplies, including literature on home brewing. (The ABC insists this was not a "raid" but an inspection, and that Hop City had been warned that home brewing equipment had to go.)
ABC agents really have no choice but to make a seizure in a case like this because that's what the law requires. Here's what it says: "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation in this state to manufacture, sell, give away or have in possession any still, apparatus, appliance or any device or substitute therefore to be used for the purpose of manufacturing any prohibited liquors or beverages."
Many of the items used in home brewing, including buckets, grain and yeast, can be found in grocery and home improvement stores, although not all of it in one place. That's apparently why Hop City made headlines.
David Peacock, an attorney for the ABC Board, explained it this way to The Birmingham News' Madison Underwood: "You can have sugar, you can have malt, you can have hops, you can have tubing, copper and everything else, but if you put it all together in a store and market it like it's going to be home brewing stuff and have a book about how to do it, it's a problem."
If you know anything about Alabama, you won't be surprised to hear that it's is one of only two states where home brewing is illegal. Of course, Mississippi is the other one. There was a time when residents of every small Alabama town with an Episcopal congregation chuckled about the little old woman who made muscadine wine, only for communion, you understand. The sheriffs in these places never dared mess with the free exercise of religion.
Alabama's law on this point for communities where alcoholic beverages are legal is an artifact of the prohibition era. This is the Age of the Internet (and UPS). For a trifling sum, you can have delivered (inconspicuously) to your front door every piece of equipment and ingredient you need to brew up all types of beers to drink at home.
For some, home brewing is a hobby as satisfying and rewarding as any other, maybe more so. And so long as beer and wine can be bought legally in a community, there's little reason to outlaw the local sale of the stuff to make them.
By Mike Hollis, for the editorial board. Email: [email protected].
Inappropriate post? Alert us.
Related topics: editorial

Exactly. This is just another case of trying to govern morals.

 

[aubiecat]

We need more opinion pieces like this exposing these silly archaic laws.

 

[gimmejava]

Actually, I like living in Alabama, but the brewing laws suck.

This is why Alabama tops my list of "places I would love to not visit/live".

If i may quote the 80s Sean Penn movie "Colors" ...."There's no future in it, homes"

 

[JordanThomas]

Dang... Better start confiscating lights used to grow plants indoors, and clay pots, and aluminum foil, and soil, and thoughts.

I really love Michigan the older I get.

 

[Homercidal]

Dang... Better start confiscating lights used to grow plants indoors, and clay pots, and aluminum foil, and soil, and thoughts.

I really love Michigan the older I get.

Naw, man, that stuff is legal, man! Like I hear ads on the radio all the time, man! I heard you can get a license to grow your own at home and everything! All you gotta do is go to your doctor and make up some fake illness, man! Like your back hurts, or you get migraines or stuff like that.

What was I talking about just now? Man, I can't remember.

Oh yeah, like you got any ding dongs, man? I could really dig some ding dongs.

 

[MikeMetroka]

Just for the record, what year is it in Alalbama?

 

[Whattawort]

Just for the record, what year is it in Alalbama?

Not sure about Alalbama, but here in Alabama it's 26 Sep 2012.

 

[MalFet]

I love Alalbama. It's a beaultiful placle.

 

[aubiecat]

Just for the record, what year is it in Alalbama?

For the record, the same year where ever the hell you're at.

 

[MikeMetroka]

Apologies. I thought this subject was about the law. No offense intended about the state.

 

[aubiecat]

Apologies. I thought this subject was about the law. No offense intended about the state.

Sorry, no offense taken. I was joking as well.
We need a sarcasm emoticon here.

 

[BlackRock]

Wow... I had no idea. It's like growing your own for a lot of states nowadays. An archaic law that has no real use today.

So what's worse in Alabama... Growing weed or brewing beer.

 

[iaefebs]

We need a sarcasm emoticon here.

If you can't detect sarcasm you're perfect for sarcasm :-7

 

[step]

Really tired of the "government" protecting us from ourselves.

Please think about this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/anyone-join-aha-357058/ they really do a lot for us!!!

 

[petie]

My father in law lives in Jasper,Alabama and I've spent a lot of time there. I love the state but the homebrew law is a freakin joke.

Doesn't Home Depot sell buckets,burners,copper tubing,stainless tubing, rubber hose, and propane? Was the ABC over there takin their stuff? If they weren't then the raid was highly unjust.

Alabama is one of my favorite states(right behind the great commonwealth of Kentucky of course), but their lawmakers need to get a grip.

 

[petie]

On second thought screw em. If you're in northern Alabama drive a couple hours up to Four Seasons in Nashville and fill up the truck and take it back to Alabama. Or Rebel Brewer is just about 30 minutes from there.

If your really feelin frisky go about another 1 1/2 hours north and come drink some beer with me. The doors always open to my friends from the south.

 

[TyTanium]

Doesn't Home Depot sell buckets,burners,copper tubing,stainless tubing, rubber hose, and propane? Was the ABC over there takin their stuff? If they weren't then the raid was highly unjust.

The difference is intent. There needs to be intent to brew for it to be illegal.

 

[petie]

My point is if I couldn't get that stuff at the HB store Id go to Home Depot and get it with the INTENT to brew.

 

[TyTanium]

My point is if I couldn't get that stuff at the HB store Id go to Home Depot and get it with the INTENT to brew.

That'd make YOU illegal, not Home Depot. A homebrew store is possessing equipment "to be used" for homebrewing...intent is clear. Just b/c you intend to brew with Home Depot stuff, does not incriminate HD.

Again, I'm saying it's a good law, just trying to clear up how it works.

 

[BlackRock]

Sounds like all you guys in Alabama need to take a trip to Home Depot to pick up some equipment "Not for HomeBrewing"... If I lived in Alabama, screw the state, I'd brew anyway and just call it civil disobedience on my part. Prohibition is just dumb whether it's for Marijuana or Alcohol. The only thing it does is criminalize otherwise good people over an arbitrary law that's in place because of other more evil factors. In this case those appear to be religion and big business with the Southern Baptists and Anheuser Busch being two of the biggest lobbying forces against allowing home brewing in the state. Wow.

 

[Whattawort]

Sounds like all you guys in Alabama need to take a trip to Home Depot to pick up some equipment "Not for HomeBrewing"... If I lived in Alabama, screw the state, I'd brew anyway and just call it civil disobedience on my part. Prohibition is just dumb whether it's for Marijuana or Alcohol. The only thing it does is criminalize otherwise good people over an arbitrary law that's in place because of other more evil factors. In this case those appear to be religion and big business with the Southern Baptists and Anheuser Busch being two of the biggest lobbying forces against allowing home brewing in the state. Wow.

No one brews here. No one. Got it bub?

 

[aubiecat]

No one brews here. No one. Got it bub?

Shhhhh.........

 

[petie]

Sounds like all you guys in Alabama need to take a trip to Home Depot to pick up some equipment "Not for HomeBrewing"... If I lived in Alabama, screw the state, I'd brew anyway and just call it civil disobedience on my part. Prohibition is just dumb whether it's for Marijuana or Alcohol. The only thing it does is criminalize otherwise good people over an arbitrary law that's in place because of other more evil factors. In this case those appear to be religion and big business with the Southern Baptists and Anheuser Busch being two of the biggest lobbying forces against allowing home brewing in the state. Wow.

I second that emotion. Testify brother BlackRock.