12/3/2023 0 Comments Maryland homebrew instagram![]() We've always been getting great feedback, people frequently asking where they can buy our beer. That's as close as a homebrewer can get to having the "general public" taste (your) homebrew. Some events also feature micro breweries serving their (donated) beer alongside homebrewers. In our wider area we have a few homebrew (club) based fundraisers each year (sadly, not this year). Just like your farmer's market is comprised of "small" farmers with probably dozens of acres of land at the least, not your next door neighbor growing a dozen tomato plants in their back yard, at the super small scale you're suggesting there'd be really no point in trying to brew for profit. Just trying to say that the "tiny" license you isn't exactly the problem. I know a lot of us have this "man, I wish I could sell this" idea in the back of our heads. ![]() Honestly, I think a lot of the puritanical laws around alcohol are problematic. If there is an exception for direct sales, does that only apply for "on premise" sales from the brewery itself? There goes your farmer's market idea, people have to come to your house to buy it. ![]() ![]() Now, what are the distribution laws in your state? Are you fully subject to a 3-tier system (you have to sell to a distributor who has to sell to a retailer) or are direct sales allowed? If so, there goes 50% or more of your profits. Now, figure in the 5 hour brew day and let's say another 15 hours of your time to attend two farmer's market a month (including prep, travel, setup, etc.), and you're looking at $10/hr at best. Subtract out your recipe costs, amortization on equipment, cost of permits and complying with alcohol regulation, and let's just say at a best case you've still got $200 (yeah, right!) of "profit" left. So, you're talking a max $300 in sales per month before figuring in costs. For non-hyped beers, $3 is about the top end for that size bottle. Just from the practicality side, let's look at some numbers.Īt 10 gallons per month, you're talking just over 100 12oz beers. Yet there is 1,000 times the risk than that of consuming home brew. "Cottage Foods" are essentially almost unregulated. You are only required to label what it is. You tell me whose area/practices are cleaner - an experienced home brewer, or any Tom, Dick or Mary who decides to sell food? In Indiana, along with numerous other states, there are exactly zero regulations on selling baked goods. The point I am making, is drinking home brew beer is monumentally safer than eating food made who knows where, sitting who knows where and who knows how long. Making beer/wine is inherently safe simply because of the low ph in beer/wine, and of course - alcohol. You would basically have to literally add something bad to your beer in order to make someone sick. But you cannot get sick from beer, even if contaminated. in selling baked goods?Īgain, you can get sick, really sick from eating contaminated food, obviously. We need to advocate for a tiny alcohol license.Ĭlick to expand.I get that, but why not then laws governing sanitation etc. And getting that license should be much-much easier than getting even the "small" license which requires, as we all know, many hurdles and expenses. Let's say you can't sell more than 120 gallons a year. Why doesn't there exist a license in which you can sell beer, but only very small amounts. In my state there are two kinds of brewery license - small and large. So, what else then? And why enforced so vigorously? I mean you can't make money in ANY way from home brew. As most here know, virtually no known pathogens can exist in beer. The chance of getting sick from beer is almost non-existent. The chance of getting sick, even really sick, are infinitely higher eating someone's baked goods/food than drinking someone's home brewed beer. as we all know, it certainly isn't public safety. It's public safety right? Can't have someone making people sick? Well. They also sell baked goods, and at the weekend markets. Great time of year to get fresh vegetables from farmers markets and the Amish. I'm going to allow this thread as long as the discussion remains on topic, civil, informative, and merely hypothetical, and doesn't escalate into actually selling or promoting to sell beer, legally or illegally.Īnyone grazing or crossing those boundaries will be eligible for a vacation from HBT.
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