Would you still brew if it became illegal

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

I live in Mississippi where it is illegal, and I brew on a regular basis.

Who's got big balls? Wesley Clark the homebrewer from Jackson MS got big balls.

 

[BobbiLynn]

If home brewing became a illegal, I would stop homebrewing for a short time while assembling a militia and training them. I would of course enlist the help of patriot home brewers to fill the mugs of all the troops. So, can I count on you guys and gals when the SHTF?

You can count on me!! Hypothetically, should it happen.

 

[Phunhog]

Well, if brewing is currently legal and you decide to sell your homebrew, which is illegal, you will likely spend some time in the federal pound-me-in-the-A** and come out with a felony on your record and a sore bum.

If homebrewing were to become illegal, the likely of getting caught and the punishment for doing so would likely be much less than the prior example.

Then again... the direction things are headed, you may get 20 years for brewing a batch of beer and only get 5 for murder.

You would think so but.....I can't find any evidence/cases to support that viewpoint. I just think it is funny/ironic that most of us would continue to homebrew if it was ever made illegal and view it as an issue of personal freedom. Yet we all abide by the current laws pertaining to homebrewing regardless of how archaic they are. After all if you are going to abide by laws governing how much you can brew, where you can take it, who you can give it to, etc... why wouldn't you abide by a law that prohibits homebrewing?

 

[wickman6]

In the last 4 years I've seen this country change in ways I didn't think could happen in my lifetime. I am thankful for Mr. Carter signing the bill into law giving us back the right that should have always been ours. BUT what the government gives, the government can take away. I think their first step would be to require a license to brew. The next step would be to heavily tax ingredients. Then they would tax us on the potential of what we could brew from the ingredients we purchased from government regulated warehouses.

Based upon that scenario, would you Pay the Tax? Or Get the Ax?

JW

Stop giving them ideas, I don't think they're bright enough to figure that out for themselves....

 

[biohaz7331]

Id join the rebellion!

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

You would think so but.....I can't find any evidence/cases to support that viewpoint. I just think it is funny/ironic that most of us would continue to homebrew if it was ever made illegal and view it as an issue of personal freedom. Yet we all abide by the current laws pertaining to homebrewing regardless of how archaic they are. After all if you are going to abide by laws governing how much you can brew, where you can take it, who you can give it to, etc... why wouldn't you abide by a law that prohibits homebrewing?

I see where you are going and its a good question.

I can't really come up with a strong argument however, I would venture a guess that many who claim that they still would brew are just talking the talk but in the end wouldn't walk the walk if a harsh punishment resulted.

As humans, we are very responsive to reward and punishment. This is the primary way that most societies are controlled by their government. Generally, once the risk of getting caught outweighs the reward, "crime" goes down.

To look at it another way, if it were illegal to homebrew, would you still do so if the punishment was the removal of both thumbs and your gold member?

I am not at all a fanatic of government intervention but sometimes I just give in because I enjoy the little bit of freedom that still remains in our once great nation.

BTW, there are plenty of homebrewers that break the law, they are just smart enough not to bellow it out in public forums.

 

[Phunhog]

I see where you are going and its a good question.

I can't really come up with a strong argument however, I would venture a guess that many who claim that they still would brew are just talking the talk but in the end wouldn't walk the walk if a harsh punishment resulted.

As humans, we are very responsive to reward and punishment. This is the primary way that most societies are controlled by their government. Generally, once the risk of getting caught outweighs the reward, "crime" goes down.

To look at it another way, if it were illegal to homebrew, would you still do so if the punishment was the removal of both thumbs and your gold member?

I am not at all a fanatic of government intervention but sometimes I just give in because I enjoy the little bit of freedom that still remains in our once great nation.

BTW, there are plenty of homebrewers that break the law, they are just smart enough not to bellow it out in public forums.

I agree!! We all say we would continue to brew if it was made illegal but very few of us would. Even if there is little/no threat of punishment we are taught at a very young age not to participate in illegal activities...regardless if it makes any sense or not.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Id join the rebellion!

by then the Zombie Apocalypse will be upon us. be sure you're on the right side...

 

[McMalty]

........................of course not.....

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

I agree!! We all say we would continue to brew if it was made illegal but very few of us would. Even if there is little/no threat of punishment we are taught at a very young age not to participate in illegal activities...regardless if it makes any sense or not.

Isn't if funny how so many of us blindly accept conventional wisdom.

 

[tommyguner03]

Hell yeah I would.. Downloading music and movies of torrent is illegal but I still do it.. And getting grains shouldn't be hard cause say you want to make bread from scratch how else are you going to get the grain.. No way they are going to take all grains from the market

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Hell yeah I would.. Downloading music and movies of torrent is illegal but I still do it.. And getting grains shouldn't be hard cause say you want to make bread from scratch how else are you going to get the grain.. No way they are going to take all grains from the market

Hops would be off the market. Growing your own would be the equivalent crime of growing marijaywanna. Yeast would be limited to bread yeast. Getting caught brewing beer would result in castration.

95% of us would stop brewing IMO.

If the government wants to control anything there are ways. It is unfortunate but controlling the masses is the only way to maintain civilization.

 

[edds5p0]

I would just make sure my garage door was lowered enough to conceal my activities at boil time.

 

[PhelanKA7]

Jeopardizing my family and their way of life for a few beers would be foolish and petty.

 

[kpr121]

I would just make sure my garage door was lowered enough to conceal my activities at boil time.

Ha I do this now but its more to keep nosey neighbors out of my business!

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Lets raise the stakes.

If home brewing was illegal and so was buying beer or an alcohol. Would you homebrew?

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

I would just make sure my garage door was lowered enough to conceal my activities at boil time.

Yet raised enough to let the carbon monoxide out.

 

[edds5p0]

Yet raised enough to let the carbon monoxide out.

Yes, I should have mentioned that.

 

[Hackwood]

Nope. I would not.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Nope. I would not.

Even if the punishment was castration?

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Even if the punishment was castration?

Wait.. you would or wouldn't?

 

[opus345]

There are many things that people are addicted to that are illegal, one more isn't going to make a difference.

 

[Bulls Beers]

I try to do the right thing everyday, but I would absolutely brew if it were illegal. Fuc k'em....

 

[tommyguner03]

Hops would be off the market. Growing your own would be the equivalent crime of growing marijaywanna. Yeast would be limited to bread yeast. Getting caught brewing beer would result in castration.

95% of us would stop brewing IMO.

If the government wants to control anything there are ways. It is unfortunate but controlling the masses is the only way to maintain civilization.

well i guess we would figure other ways to make beer with the hop flavor.. if i had to i would just go with no hops ..

 

[tommyguner03]

oh and yeast .. back in the day they didnt use yeast like we do

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

oh and yeast .. back in the day they didnt use yeast like we do

But I doubt homebrew would taste as good if we had to use wild yeast or bread yeast.

If it came down to using either, I would just buy my beer from the store. That is of course until a certain point when tax exceed the cost of the beer.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Didnt read all 9 pages so sorry if this has been mentioned but....

Of course people would, ever heard of moonshine? I myself wouldnt if punishment was castration. But given the punishment was equal to makin shine I'd consider it. More so on just making shine instead. I cant think of anything else I'd use hops for so buying them would be a red flag for police. Shine can be made from any sugar source, making it less obvious IMO. Lol, considering homebrewing was illegal.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

well i guess we would figure other ways to make beer with the hop flavor.. if i had to i would just go with no hops ..

Thats what gruit basically is

 

[Tantalus]

There's no reason to stop doing something that's meaningful to you simply because someone else says it's illegal.

 

[highgravitybacon]

Would you still brew, me personally hell ya. I would probably get more of a kick out of it. Like drinking beer when I was in the teens the fun days.

If I lived in a secular country with draconian laws that has a history of human rights abuses, hot weather, and lots of sand, no.