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To pay or not to pay. That is my question

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I agree with the comments of having them get the ingredients for you and help you brew it. Giving a few beers away to friends is one thing, but brewing a full batch of beer...not so much. I don't just give friends $30-$40...at least not until I win the lotto.
 
i don't associate my brewing hobby with money outside of having to pay for my equipment and ingredients. 90% of my beer has been given away since my wife and i drink no more than 1 each a night it would be crazy to stockpile all of the beer i brew.
 
Friend at work wanted some beers. I told him to pick a kit and pay for it. I put it in with an order for some other items I had, so no additional shipping costs for said friend. I made it, added some dry hops out of my stash, bottled it, and brought it to him at work. He paid for his beer, I brewed it on my time. I have so many bottles kicking around that it didn't make a dent in my supply.

He got 25 bombers of good beer in bottles for $50 (would have been $125 if he had bought commercial beer). I had an excuse to brew an imperial IPA. Everyone's happy.
 
Bottles are the gold standard in my world.

This is kind of sad, but I will bring a bunch of my beers over to a friend's house in the hope that they'll drink them and free up more bottles for my precious stockpile.
 
Never gotten money for homebrew, but I do trade it to my mechanic for labor :D

Also hand plenty out amd just ask that they return my 22s
 
If a person offers you money for homebrew, consider it a donation, instead of a sale. Thats what the medical marijuana shops in Cali do. (Sarcastic voice)
 
A friend suggested I get a coffee can that says, "Beer costs 10 cents per pint to make. Gotta dime?" I debated it but I'm still new and my beers aren't fantastic yet. When I get better, I may do it. Friends who live next door have been coming over every night this week to drink.

Can I move to your neighborhood?
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I think a fair trade is for my buddy to do the label scraping duty ;)
 
Bottles are the gold standard in my world.

This is kind of sad, but I will bring a bunch of my beers over to a friend's house in the hope that they'll drink them and free up more bottles for my precious stockpile.

I do the same thing. I'm always looking toward the next beer and I have more beers than I can drink by myself, so I bring them to other people's houses to empty them out to hold the next batch. Works out pretty good.
 
Yeah, um... that doesn't really make it legal.

I should have been more clear, I was being sarcastic and making fun of the mmj industry... I know you can't legally sell home brew. I wouldn't sell the stuff or ask for money... I might ask them to help out, especially if they're a regular visitor.
 
Won't take it! Somewhere in the back of my mind is the idea of starting my own brewery. All I need is for someone to inadvertently remark that they buy my home brew and have someone from liquor control over hear the conversation. Tax evasion is something the State and Federal governments take very seriously.

I have had friends give me ammunition, and I have a barber who gives me free haircuts, but I'm sure it isn't because I give them beer....;)

I would never be able to get a brewing license!
 
So, as I understand it, there are both Federal and State laws regarding this topic. State laws vary. In general, what I've gathered on HBT is:

1) You can't directly sell beer to anybody without a license.
2) You also can't barter it for goods & services without a license. And the smartypants alcohol control peeps are also onto your clever loophole shenanigans like "selling bottles" that come with "free" beer in them without a license. No dice.
3) And technically, without a license, you can't even give away the stuff for free unless it's on your personal premises. And you can't charge/barter for admission to your premises.
4) God forbid you mail it anywhere. Expect black helicopters to descend on your home and shoot rockets made of flying monkeys that shoot bees out of their mouths at you.

Is that fairly accurate? I'm asking as a not-a-lawyer type.

Seems, then, like the most law-abiding way to garner recompense for your expenditures & labor, should you wish to seek it, is to have your friends pay for the supplies. Then, out of pure coincidence, you may decide, several weeks later and purely out of the goodness of your heart, to invite them over for drinks. If they decide to smuggle some home without your knowledge, it's their butt on the line, not yours.

Or you could make the alcohol on their premises and leave it there, I guess.

Would both of those scenarios pass the by-the-book sniff test?
 
Does anyone ever actually get busted for this? Short of selling your homebrew to a LEO, it seems like it would be darn near impossible to actually gather enough evidence to prosecute someone for selling homebrew. It doesn't seem worth the effort for local law enforcement or ATF.
 
Zamial said:
Instead of the "let's skirt legalities" why not:

1) Give your friend a list of the needed ingredients and send him to the LHBS or your favorite online vendor(s) then:

a)brew a batch for them

b)ask them to help you brew the batch, including clean-up.

c)make them brew the batch and assist as needed

d)any of the above and gift your buddy an empty Ale Pail, spray bottle of starsan, a small bung that will plug the grommet/lid for transportation and an airlock. Get the wort to their house and have them pitch the yeast in their basement. Come back in 3 weeks and help the bottle. Have a "tasting/bbq" at their home in 2-3 weeks. Offer to let them use your gear as long as they prearrange the date with you, clean it and bring a full propane tank UNTIL THEY GET THEIR OWN.

????

BTW you can also do that as a timeline... ;)

Give a friend a homebrew and you have a leech for life. Teach a friend to homebrew and get 2x's the beer selection with none of the actual work for life!

:tank:

Love this thread. :)
 
A wise person once told me to never turn down someone who is offering you money for something or given them or some way you have helped them out. People give people money for doing things for them that they have no direct way to reciprocate for, and in most cases they are doing so to feel better about themselves.

I am super generous with my brew and have never asked for a dime (except I'll give them hell if they don't bring my bottles back). However, If someone offered to pay me for beer I'd given them I'd take it and use it to help me buy grain for the next batch.

The one thing that does bug me a tiny bit is when people nag me for beer to take home with them. I like to drink beer with my friends, so I'd rather they have me bring some over or come to my house and drink with me. Plus my bottles seem to vanish if I don't watch them like a hawk.
 
Does anyone ever actually get busted for this? Short of selling your homebrew to a LEO, it seems like it would be darn near impossible to actually gather enough evidence to prosecute someone for selling homebrew. It doesn't seem worth the effort for local law enforcement or ATF.

Exactly...the laws are put into place so that someone can not start a brewery and NOT pay taxes. I don't think TTB, ABC, or your local law enforcement really cares about a homebrewer getting a few bucks for giving away a few beers. Can you imagine how expensive it would be for the gov't to take a case like this to court? Just not worth it....
 
I never ask for, nor accept money from the folks with whom I share my beer.:mug:
Now, if they happen to be traveling through Phoenix and want to bring me back a case of Bell's Two Hearted Ale, or are going to San Diego and insist on bringing back as much PTE, Alpine Duet and Alpine Nelson as they can find, who am I to refuse?? :rockin:
 
downtown3641 said:
Does anyone ever actually get busted for this? Short of selling your homebrew to a LEO, it seems like it would be darn near impossible to actually gather enough evidence to prosecute someone for selling homebrew. It doesn't seem worth the effort for local law enforcement or ATF.

Posting about illegal activities on a publicly indexed forum is a good way to provide evidence.
 
Because Officer Friendly is going to be able to take the time to connect a home brew site, to the one homebrewer he's busted to make his case? This isn't Law and Order, unless your moving quantities it's not worth the time to criminally pursue. Not picking a fight, just saying we aren't worth it.



I give away at least half my beer, 45-55% goes to friends and family- more at the holidays. If I could get half of them to pay for bottles I would be thrilled. Heck, if they gave me bottles to fill my costs would drop so much! I say take the money, this hobby isn't free.
 
Posting about illegal activities on a publicly indexed forum is a good way to provide evidence.

I am not a cop or lawyer but....I don't think somebody talking about something on an internet forum can be construed as evidence.
 
Providing a public record of your intent to try to skirt the law can certainly be evidence used against you in the unlikely (note that word) event you are caught. Search for the phrase "selling homebrew" on google. Search results will return HBT as the first result with a number of threads.

All I'm suggesting is using caution and not posting about illegal activities.
 
Then for the record.....I don't sell homebrew and I don't condone anyone else selling homebrew.
 
I have never sold homebrew. Couldn't imagine doing so. I have rarely given homebrew to an individual that would drink it without my presence. Only those wo enjoy the craft or understand its labors are so worthy. I feel that it the only people who should be given homebrew for to drink without me are those who have helped me in the fabrication of part of my system, given or bartered me something brewing related, attended a brew day, or someone genuinely interested in the process (and considering getting into it).

One regular dinner guest at my house agreed to try one of my beers. He drank it all and asked for another. He barely drank 1/4th of the second one. Even after he asked for the second one. Won't be giving him anymore for a while, certainly not for him to take home. Unless he wants to pay for the dinner we made him. (Alas! A workaround!)
 
I have an empty jar near the tap. Sometimes there's money in there randomly. ****ing weird.

Just kidding. I'm actually pretty surprised more of my friends aren't hounding me for beer. Not complaining though.
 
ktblunden said:
Posting about illegal activities on a publicly indexed forum is a good way to provide evidence.

That's why I wouldn't post about it. Then again, I wouldn't come to a homebrewing forum for advice and conclusions I'm perfectly capable of coming to using my own logic.
 
So, as I understand it, there are both Federal and State laws regarding this topic. State laws vary. In general, what I've gathered on HBT is:

1) You can't directly sell beer to anybody without a license.
2) You also can't barter it for goods & services without a license. And the smartypants alcohol control peeps are also onto your clever loophole shenanigans like "selling bottles" that come with "free" beer in them without a license. No dice.
3) And technically, without a license, you can't even give away the stuff for free unless it's on your personal premises. And you can't charge/barter for admission to your premises.
4) God forbid you mail it anywhere. Expect black helicopters to descend on your home and shoot rockets made of flying monkeys that shoot bees out of their mouths at you.

Is that fairly accurate? I'm asking as a not-a-lawyer type.

Seems, then, like the most law-abiding way to garner recompense for your expenditures & labor, should you wish to seek it, is to have your friends pay for the supplies. Then, out of pure coincidence, you may decide, several weeks later and purely out of the goodness of your heart, to invite them over for drinks. If they decide to smuggle some home without your knowledge, it's their butt on the line, not yours.

Or you could make the alcohol on their premises and leave it there, I guess.

Would both of those scenarios pass the by-the-book sniff test?

It is my understanding that in MI you can gift 20 gallons / person / year.
 

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