Underground Brewing
Wanna brew in a basement and sell it? Now you can, under legislation which passed the Minnesota House today. What originated as a bill for a constituent who was making and brewing tea in his basement, and ran into problems with inspections, allows a business to “manufacture, mix, or compound flavored beverage base or syrup; bottle or treat water; package carbonated or noncarbonated beverages; or bottle beer or other malt beverages.” Bring.com notes that “the ban on basement brewing is a holdover from the days when basements were often plagued with mildew problems.”
An amendment to significantly reduce the state fee on distillers was withdrawn with a promise to give the bill of the same purpose a hearing.
The brewing bill is working its way through the Senate committee process. Track it’s progress here.
[Note: As someone who spends hours a week on the legislative website, I can attest to the ease of tracking legislation, the depth of information and the ability to influence the outcome of said legislation.]
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March 8, 2010, 10:50pm :: Posted by Eric in beer laws
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[...] Underground Brewing | MNBeer – Beer from the Twin Cities … [...]
hmmmm, how bout the main level? is that cool?
Interesting it says “bottle beer” and doesn’t mention kegging….
I’m more interested in the lowering the cost of a distillers license. $30,000 is absurd.
I understand the update on the manufacturing (brewing) aspect. I do not see anything that states it can be sold legally. I might be missing something, so can anyone point that part out to me?
Cheers!
As far as I can tell, with regards to beer, the only change this bill will allow for on a state level is allowing someone to brew professionally below grade. The AP story generated some excitement about “homebrew” when it really should have touched on brewing professionally, either below grade or in a home. The aspects of licensing, selling, distribution, etc., etc. remain unchanged.
Thanks Ryan, that was the same impression I was getting. whew, that hurt my brain. your site is great, thanks for the hard work.
The TTB won’t allow basement brewing commercially. So how would this help, because you have to get the TTB ok before getting local ok…?
As someone who has a Federally-approved commercial “basement” brewery, I’m struck by this legislation – it seems much more directed at non-alcohol production facilities (the origin was someone who wanted to do “fermented tea” – what’s that?!?). Seems more like an issue with the FDA – which has nothing to do with with alcohol production (at present – and if they do… there goes the price of your six-pack!).
The TTB is your first threshold if you want to commercially produce/sell your beer. States typically fall inline after the Feds approve.
>Wanna brew in a basement and sell it? Now you can, under legislation which passed the Minnesota House today.
The bill still has to pass the Senate and get the Governor’s signature to become law… so even though this could be a promising development, it’s not quite there yet!
Dave-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha
Beware the all powerful TTB
Charle Marks-
Holy crap, I think Id have a stroke if I saw something like that flaoting in my carboy….very interesting.
[...] brewing” legislation that’s been bouncing around (previously mentioned here and here)… There is a misrepresentation by some that the legislation about brewing below grade will [...]