Homebrew Contest / Fundraiser

[choppersean]

I did a bit of searching the forums and didn't find anything that I was looking for.....

There seems to be a lot of homebrewers in the professional community I belong to locally (water and wastewater treatment civil engineers and our municipal clients). I have been thinking of doing a fun homebrew competition where we would brew a batch(style) of our choice and then have a massive party where each beer is judged by a non-brewing consumer. Each brewer would collect something like $0.50 per 2 or 4 ounce sample.......which all goes into a large (hopefully) pot of cash. Then, each person votes for (judges) each beer and the winner takes all!!! HOWEVER, rather than taking it home, the kitty would be donated in the winner's name to the charity of choice. In our case, there are organizations such as Water for People........or Engineer's Without Borders......and there are tons of others....that would be recipients of the donation.

Anyway, hopefully that gives you an idea of where I am going. Has anyone done any kind of non-BJCP competition where you have drafted some basic guidelines and rules to abide by? If so, please let me know. I would love to see something to use as a starting point.

Cheers!

 

[MonkeyWrench]

Up here there is a Rotary International homebrew fund raiser each year. As it turns out, in WA, a homebrewer can donate his beer to the non-profit and they can sell it when they obtain a temporary serving permit. So 100% of each pint (or sample or whatever) goes toward the fund. Don't quote me exactly on how it works, maybe someone involved will chime in. I haven't been to the event personally, I heard about it from a guy in my LHB club.

So yes, homebrew charity has been done. But, the one thing that you have to watch out for is the way you have it structured. It sorta sounds like the homebrewer would "sell" a sample to someone. Since the brewer is not a NPO (if it even works like that in CO), it may be illegal even though your end result would be zero monetary gain for the brewer.

Hope you get it worked out. Sounds like a great idea.

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

My first call would be to the Arvada PD to see what they thought......Sounds like a good idea and a lot of fun, but fraught with complications and headaches due to alcohol laws in our lovely state.

Keep us posted!

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

A local rotary club near here had done that as well a few years ago, and the local Masons hold an annual Oktoberfest featuring homebrew. So it obviously can be done.

You'll need to get a temporary liquor license at minimum, and the city may have other restrictions. I'ts probably a good idea to start by asking questions of the local PD, they should also be able to give you the contact info for the local Alcoholic Beverage Control inspector.

I'd also recommend choosing the benefitting charity in advance, that info and their help may be necessary when muddling through the red tape.

Moose

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

I agree w Moose about the temp liquor license, unfortunately, that would be the easiest part of the process. It's the manufacture (homebrew) that would concern me as far as red tape goes here in CO.

 

[choppersean]

Riverfront.......I have been away from homebrewing here in Colorado for the past 4 years (lived in AZ for 3 of those years). You sound down on Colorado.......has something changed significantly here that I am not aware of? I started brewing in Colorado in about 1992 and never have had any concern for the laws here related to homebrewing.

The AHA website has this brief summary of the State Law..........

" Colorado statute §12-47-142 basically allows for the home production of beer as defined by Federal law. The statute is basic and effective allowing for the manufacture of beer in the home as prescribed by federal statute (Title 26, Chapter 51, Subchapter A, Part I, Subpart D, §5053). Paragraph (d) authorizes the delivery to and consumption of home brewed beer in competitions, exhibitions, tastings, judgings, etc."

I have a message into the State Alcohol Enforcement and Licensing office about this, but as I read this..........home brewed beer, CHECK.........delivery and consumption at a "tasting", CHECK. The laws keep using the following terms: "...head of a family may produce for family use and not for sale..." in how they describe the production/manufacture of homebrew.

Again, MY interpretation sounds like we would be OK, but the enforcement officer was out of the office today......hopefully he'll call me tomrrow with some definitive guidance.

 

[Bottenbrew]

The issue isn't any of the thing you listed, it is the money. It stops being a tasting or an exhibition when people are paying you, even if it isn't going to you. Easiest way around this is you don't have any kind of charge and just put up a bunch of buckets asking for donations for a particular cause that you have predetermined. Otherwise you will probably need a liquor license, even if it is a temporary one.

 

[PVH]

Each brewer would collect something like $0.50 per 2 or 4 ounce sample.......which all goes into a large (hopefully) pot of cash. Then, each person votes for (judges) each beer and the winner takes all!!! HOWEVER, rather than taking it home, the kitty would be donated in the winner's name to the charity of choice.

What are you going for here? Is the winner determined by how many samples he "sells?"

By the way, I work in Arvada.

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

Chopper-

Let me preface this by saying I think your idea is great and I would participate of you found a legal way to do it.....but,

Anytime you produce alcohol for the "public" to consume you are manufacturing a for sale product. You cannot manufacture a for sale alcoholic product without being licensed by the TTB, St of CO, and your local municipality where you re selling. Anytime you mix homemade alcohol and money, you are asking for trouble.

Of course these are my opinions based on my conservative interpretation of CO's liquor production laws, which I have read multiple times.

Good Luck though, I do think it's agreat idea.

Chris

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

lastly, this is from the AHA website from where you quoted your info as well.

"(d) Malt liquors produced pursuant to this subsection (2) may be transported and delivered by the producer to any licensed premise where consumption by persons over the age of twenty-one is authorized for use at organized affairs, exhibitions, or competitions, such as home brew contests, tastings, or judgings. Consumption shall be limited solely to the participants in and judges of such events. Malt liquors used for the purposes described in this paragraph (d) shall be served in portions not exceeding six ounces and shall not be sold, offered for sale, or made available for consumption by the general public."

 

[choppersean]

Bottenbrew, I think that you are right........it is the money thing and how we handle that which is the kicker. Originally (to PVH's questions), I was thinking that the "WINNER" of the friendly competition could be determined by whomever rasied the most money for the charity.....thus my suggestion of $0.50 per taste, that sort of thing. Instead, I am thinking have the event be free to anyone but have buckets for anyone who chooses to donate. The "WINNER" of the beer competion could still be determined by a vote.......something as simple as that.

 

[choppersean]

lastly, this is from the AHA website from where you quoted your info as well.

"(d) Malt liquors produced pursuant to this subsection (2) may be transported and delivered by the producer to any licensed premise where consumption by persons over the age of twenty-one is authorized for use at organized affairs, exhibitions, or competitions, such as home brew contests, tastings, or judgings. Consumption shall be limited solely to the participants in and judges of such events. Malt liquors used for the purposes described in this paragraph (d) shall be served in portions not exceeding six ounces and shall not be sold, offered for sale, or made available for consumption by the general public."

Understood.......that concerned me, too, when I read it first. However, if I were to make the interpretation based on this language, I could point to the portion that says, "...transpoted and delivered by the producer to any licensed premise where consumption ..." So, my interpretation of that.......just don't do the event at a licensed premise. By licensed, I assume they mean an establishment that holds a liquor license.

Too many ways to interpret all this.........that is why I went strait to the agency that controls this here in CO.

I'll report back what I find..........

 

[PVH]

Bottenbrew, I think that you are right........it is the money thing and how we handle that which is the kicker.

The money is a problem, but it is not the only problem. You can't just invite the general public to drink your homebrew, even if you are giving it away. That is totally lame, but so are a lot of other laws.

Understood.......that concerned me, too, when I read it first. However, if I were to make the interpretation based on this language, I could point to the portion that says, "...transpoted and delivered by the producer to any licensed premise where consumption ..." So, my interpretation of that.......just don't do the event at a licensed premise. By licensed, I assume they mean an establishment that holds a liquor license.

That is a good try, but you're missing the fact that the whole section on homebrew exempts you from having to be licensed to make and transport it. So, you get exactly what the exemption gives you. It's not the kind of thing where something is prohibited and you are finding a way to say you are not doing exactly what is prohibited.

Despite all this, I think there are other ways of raising money with a homebrew competition that would be fun and could involve lots of non-homebrewers. If you are interested in exploring this, PM me.