Beer Samples in the LHBS

[twalte]

At least in CA it is definetly illegal. In fact it is essentially the same as selling homebrew in the eyes of the law. http://calbevlaw.com/2010/12/11/when-is-an-alcoholic-beverage-license-needed/

I think you nailed it. Time to crack down on those hair salons offering free wine!

I should have figured...everything is regulated out here in the People's Republic of California. My favorite: Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1500 feet of a tavern, school or place of worship. Let's see them start cracking down on that one.

http://www.stupidlaws.com/animals-a...-feet-of-a-tavern-school-or-place-of-worship/

 

[Hex]

My LHBS had to stop the practice, but another one across town still does. It's about as silly as the 200 gallon limit and concealed carry permits. Government restrictions on life liberty and persut of hoppyness.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

spoke with the bossman yesterday, he says it's all legal. No need to do a thing,,but if he would ever sell a sample for a nickel,,he could be in trouble

 

[thadius856]

Walked into an LHBS on Thursday afternoon. Browsed a bit for little things I needed. Ended up walking out with a pyrex dropper, some vinyl tubing, a drilled stopper, and 5# of Dextrose. Paid out the nose for it. Should have waited.

There was a pile of samples sitting in sixer holders. Was even offered a few, but declined because I was in uniform.

Funny.

 

[Bobby_M]

I haven't reviewed all the state laws but I know that some are explicit in that homebrewed beer has to be brewed and consumed at home. Even in the cases where small quantities are allowed to be removed from the home for evaluation purposes (comps), it's far from serving in a commercial setting for a commercial purpose. To be sure, the samples would be construed as marketing collateral even if it were just a friendly gesture to customers. I know a lot of homebrew shops do this and my guess is that it's very much a don't ask don't tell thing. I doubt many have consulted a lawyer about its legality.

 

[Phunhog]

I think the problem occurs when you are selling stuff AND giving away free beer. An example is that I sell t-shirts with my "brewery" logo on it. This is a legitimate business....I charge/collect state sales tax. Now let's say I sell somebody a t-shirt for 60 bucks but it comes with "free" beer. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the "real" product being sold is the beer...the t-shirt just makes the sale look legitimate.

 

[TMadness1013]

I need to recommend this to my LHBS.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,it'd be nice if JW Dover did this. He also runs Black Box Brewing out of the back of the shop. Looks like they just bottled a batch of Black Forest Lager yesterday as well. Love to have been able to try a sampl of that. Doing a black lager myself next week.