Beer is Great, but Jail is bad!
What are we thinking now?
-----Original Message-----
From: mba-bounce(a)thebarn.com [mailto:mba-bounce@thebarn.com] On Behalf
Of Rick Oftel
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 12:58 PM
To: Mba(a)thebarn.com
Subject: Re: Beer is Great
Club members and friends. I was a little concerned with the request
from the Beer is Great festival organizers and the enthusiastic
agreement to participate from a few club members. Although the laws may
have changed or been re-worded, I wanted to check with a professional
and felt his opinions are worth sharing. As they say, a word to the
wise is sufficient. No mentions about the non-wise. Read on and make
your own decide.
Rick O
MHBA
Here is my original question to Dave:
Our clubs (St. Paul and MHBA) were asked to participate at a beer
tasting event that will occur at the Saints stadium. I was very
concerned when I heard they were asking us to pour homebrew at their
"Beer is Good" event.
Could you please provide a few words of wisdom that I could share
with the homebrew clubs regarding serving homebrew amongst
commercial breweries.
Dave's response (with permission to reprint). I'm not a lawyer, nor do
I play one on tv. Just off the top of my head:
1) Your brand is not registered in the state of Minnesota, nor could it
be as you don't hold a Brewer's Notice.
2) The beer was produced in a location that is not subject to Health
Code inspections.
3) My understanding of homebrewing laws are a certain quantity of beer
can be produced for consumption at home. In the strictest sense, this
prohibits you from even taking beer to a club meeting.
4) You have no liquor liability insurance. You could be sued by
someone that was intoxicated at the event, and without insurance that
could spell disaster.
I'm shocked and a bit concerned that they requested this of your clubs.
This event was thrown together in a month, and everytime I hear
something new about it, I just shake my head.
David Berg
Head Brewer, Bandana Brewery
President, Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild