Legal Questions: home brew beer dinner at a restaurant

[BrooRoo]

I was wondering if anyone knows if hosting a beer dinner featuring home-brewed beer at a restaurant (in Massachusetts) is legal? Customers will be paying for a ticket to the dinner so technically they will be buying home-brewed beer, which as far as I know, isn't legal for the restaurant to sell. Any ideas or advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[kh54s10]

I have no knowledge of the law, but...
It might be a gray area. If you are allowed to bring your own bottle to the restaurant normally, you should be able to bring your own homebrew. So if one person brings homebrew for everyone, the restaurant isn't really charging for the beer.

If you haven't already, ask the restaurant, they might not allow it anyway.

 

[richmke]

No Massachusetts, but ...

I once looked up supplying adult beverages at one of my kid's wedding reception. The law required the establishment serving the adult beverages to purchase the adult beverages from a licensed supplier.

Serving wine to your friends is one thing, as wells as BYOB. As soon as you start selling tickets, you quickly run up against the licensing rules.

Now, if people stopped by your place and you a-gratis gave them a brew, and they brought that to the restaurant...

 

[IslandLizard]

+1^

The ticket price should be for dinner ONLY. That way you're not selling beer or charging for it. If the restaurant allows you bring and serve homebrew beer for your party, you can serve that. It's a private party.

I'm not a lawyer.

 

[BrooRoo]

Thanks for all of your help. I was approached by the chef of a local restaurant to do this. We have collaborated on beer dinners before and were thinking about doing some of our own home-brews this time around. Which got me to thinking about legal issues...

 

[1977Brewer]

I'm not a lawyer.

But you play one on TV?

 

[IslandLizard]

But you play one on TV?

Nope, not me, look at my avatar.

 

[1977Brewer]

Nope, not me, look at my avatar.

 

[madscientist451]

If restaurant has a liquor license, then serving homebrew, even for free, would be against the law here in PA.
If you invited a private party to a restaurant that allows BYOB, I don't see why you can't bring anything you want to bring. There's no requirement here in PA to drink commercial alcohol at a BYOB restaurant.
If tickets are being sold the homebrew can't be included in the price, that would be an illegal sale of untaxed and unregulated alcohol.
Every state has different laws and different levels of enforcement. I'd ask the state agency that regulates that and see what they say.
I'm not a lawyer either, but I don't trust lawyers anyway, you need to look out for yourself.

 

[Schecter]

Call the ABC and ask? Mass sucks for liquor laws, absolutely terrible. I'd assume you'd need a particular license to sell or maintain a brewpub, but for free? Not sure...

 

[JonM]

I know a local place did that recently AND put it on TV as an episode of a local PBS food show, but we have funny liquor laws here in WI.

 

[andrewmaixner]

I know a local place did that recently AND put it on TV as an episode of a local PBS food show, but we have funny liquor laws here in WI.

"funny" meaning "better" ?