Hombrewing in Alabama

(via punditry by the pint)

[Today] the Alabama Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee will hold a public hearing on SB355 aka, the Homebrewing Reform Bill. This bill would clarify the law regarding homebrewing, which is currently murky and specifically make it legal to hold homebrewing competitions, where homebrewers from around the state, region, et cetera can gather to trade recipes and techniques while quaffing delicious homebrewed beverages. It works for baked goods and barbecues, so why not beers?

…

Please contact your senator tomorrow morning (hearing is at 1pm) and urge him or her to support SB355, especially if your senator is on the committee. Getting this bill out of committee ensures a floor debate and vote and moves it one step closer to bringing freedom to homebrewers statewide.

Btw, if you haven’t already done so, join Free the Hops! More members means more momentum to bring freedom of choice to craft beer lovers who have labored for too long under the yoke of prohibition-era laws and regulations.

Homebrewing of beer has had a murky legal past in the US since prohibition. During Prohibition some malt companies posted instruction on how NOT to make beer (Warning: following these steps would lead to the creation of beer, so be sure to NOT do this), the beer created was of dubious quality at best but could be made at home more easily than moonshine. The ratification of the 21st amendment clearly legalized wine making, but home brewing of beer was left out, it was not until 1978 that congress passed a law legalizing personal production of small amounts of beer. Several states, like Alabama, and my home state of SC, have hard to understand laws or strict limits that go above and beyond the federal limits. In SC for example, I have a limit of 5% ABV for my brews, I have on occasion broken this law.

For a list of the homebrewing laws in your state visit Beertown, the website of the brewers association.