Homebrew Store in a dry county

[Owly055]

The sane approch that will not promote conflict, is to open an entirely different business and once established slip in the home brew supplies.
I'd suggest opening up a store offering adults books, paraphenial, and guns and ammo right between the church and the elementary school, and using it for a "cover", gradually slipping in some grains, hops, etc. without making any fuss about it. When locals see your customers leaving with odd shaped packages, they will naturally assume them to be anatomically correct sex toys or assault rifles.
Eventually they will get on to you and realize you are selling brewing supplies, but they will have no grounds to stop you..... You already have your license, and the church elders you deal homosexual and BDSM porn to in secret, will make sure you are not bothered by the council. Hopefully by then, you will know that deacon x and deacon y engage in sodomy, deacon z does his best work on his knees, and deacon q likes to tie children up and abuse them........... The hipocrites will move heaven and earth to keep from being exposed!!


H.W.

 

[MaxStout]

The sane approch that will not promote conflict, is to open an entirely different business and once established slip in the home brew supplies.
I'd suggest opening up a store offering adults books, paraphenial, and guns and ammo right between the church and the elementary school, and using it for a "cover", gradually slipping in some grains, hops, etc. without making any fuss about it. When locals see your customers leaving with odd shaped packages, they will naturally assume them to be anatomically correct sex toys or assault rifles.
Eventually they will get on to you and realize you are selling brewing supplies, but they will have no grounds to stop you..... You already have your license, and the church elders you deal homosexual and BDSM porn to in secret, will make sure you are not bothered by the council. Hopefully by then, you will know that deacon x and deacon y engage in sodomy, deacon z does his best work on his knees, and deacon q likes to tie children up and abuse them........... The hipocrites will move heaven and earth to keep from being exposed!!


H.W.

 

[Yooper]

What makes me laugh is that my husband had never heard of a "dry county" or "blue laws" before.

Half of my family is from New Orleans, so we often traveled the south. I'm old enough to remember "colored drinking fountains", so we're talking a very long time and travels going back to the early 60s.

Anyway, when I'd travel, there were always dry counties and my parents would leave us kids in the motel and go off to a wet county. That would get them arrested now, but anyway...................I was totally used to the idea, and expected it. Jim Crow is still alive in many areas of the south.

Then Bob and I started driving to South Texas each winter. He was shocked to find that in NW Arkansas, not only could we not buy beer on Sunday mornings, we couldn't buy beer period. Or any alcohol. He thought I was kidding when I brought my "Emergency Arkansas Pack" (but it works in other states as well- AR is just one was always stop in, and spend time in).

Anyway, "dry counties" are no joke. There are work-arounds (moonshiners for one know all of the ways to get around the law), but this would be a very difficult task without the support of the big shots in the community. I'd seriously consult a lawyer or two, and plan on it being a difficult road.

 

[Paps]

Arkansas has many a weird law.
Dry county in some areas basically mean "no carry out" sales.
Fortunately one does not need a liqour license to sell grain/hops.
However if you try to open up a "hoembrew shop" they can and will do everything in their power to keep you from having a store or shutting it down once you get it. Therefore it would be wise to open a shop not advertised as `homebrew shop` but some other form of business and have grains/hops mixed in with the rest of the inventory. If you really do know a lot of homebrewers then they will find out via word of mouth. Also a benefit to this would having extra sales not reliant on brew stuff sales as let's face it......selling grain at 2 bux a pound might not cover your rent. The closest LHBS to me also is a hydroponic store and they have told me that the hydro side keeps them afloat in the springtime when homebrew sales are low.

Good luck in your venture.

 

[Brewernaut51]

What makes me laugh is that my husband had never heard of a "dry county" or "blue laws" before.

Half of my family is from New Orleans, so we often traveled the south. I'm old enough to remember "colored drinking fountains", so we're talking a very long time and travels going back to the early 60s.

Anyway, when I'd travel, there were always dry counties and my parents would leave us kids in the motel and go off to a wet county. That would get them arrested now, but anyway...................I was totally used to the idea, and expected it. Jim Crow is still alive in many areas of the south.

Then Bob and I started driving to South Texas each winter. He was shocked to find that in NW Arkansas, not only could we not buy beer on Sunday mornings, we couldn't buy beer period. Or any alcohol. He thought I was kidding when I brought my "Emergency Arkansas Pack" (but it works in other states as well- AR is just one was always stop in, and spend time in).

Anyway, "dry counties" are no joke. There are work-arounds (moonshiners for one know all of the ways to get around the law), but this would be a very difficult task without the support of the big shots in the community. I'd seriously consult a lawyer or two, and plan on it being a difficult road.

I never knew about them either until I started traveling for work 10 years or so ago. Sometimes we had to drive 45 min or more just to get hard stuff to take back to the motel beer was a little easier to get but not much. That sucked after working a 12 hr shift. We really stocked up on our runs. I want to say that wasn't even that far south either. Might have been southern Ohio if I remember right.

 

[unionrdr]

No dry counties in southern Ohio that I remember from working down there.

 

[thatfatbastard]

How far is it to the next "wet" county? Open up a shop right on the county line closest to the main population center of the "dry" county.

I opened an LHBS earlier this year (just about exactly 6 months ago, actually) and I have customers that drive for over an hour to get to me. Some from several counties away.