166
All Grain Brewing / Re: Black IPA?
« on: June 02, 2010, 04:31:24 pm »
We'll have a feature on Black IPA in the up-coming July/August issue of Zymurgy.
News: Welcome to the American Homebrewers Association Forum. Though you do not need to be a member to participate, we would love for you to join us!
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167
Questions about the forum? / Re: renewing AHA membership
« on: June 01, 2010, 10:39:31 am »
Thanks for you renewal!
You'll get a new card. The cards are mailed from the company that prints the cards rather than from our warehouse. Cards are printed approximately every two weeks, as we must have a minimum of 200 cards before printing.
You'll get a new card. The cards are mailed from the company that prints the cards rather than from our warehouse. Cards are printed approximately every two weeks, as we must have a minimum of 200 cards before printing.
168
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Legalization
« on: June 01, 2010, 10:18:37 am »
Louisiana homebrewers support HB1484 to allow homebrew for club meetings, competitions, and events at pubs, breweries, and other licensed facilities. The bill has been passed by the Louisiana House and is now in the Senate Judiciary B Committee. See the AHA Action Alert at http://sylb.org/action-alerts/LA_5.28.htm for details.
169
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What do you want your AHA Governing Committee to do for you?
« on: May 28, 2010, 09:09:23 am »
A lot of what we do is spelled out on the AHA website in the Government Affairs section: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/government-affairs/statutes.
In terms of homebrew legalization, the process works like this:
We are contacted by local homebrewers who are interested in changing the laws in their state.
We can provide history of past attempts to legalize homebrewing based on whatever records we have on file.
We can help line-up allies within the brewing community.
We also advise homebrewers through the legislative process, provide samples of statute language from other states, who to involve in the process, how to avoid creating enemies that can sink the process, etc.
When needed, we rally the troops to contact politicians to garner support for bills, including all AHA members within the state, Brewers Association brewery members, and Support Your Local Brewery Members as well as posts to the AHA Forum and TechTalk. We include other influential people within the brewing community, such as The Brewing Network, Basic Brewing Radio, and Beer Advocate in our Action Alerts. We also use social media, including twitter (@AHADirector) and the AHA Facebook page to spread the word.
For both Oklahoma and Utah, we sent press releases when the legalization bills were signed into law, though our media database is primarily beer and food writers.
Gary Glass
AHA Director
In terms of homebrew legalization, the process works like this:
We are contacted by local homebrewers who are interested in changing the laws in their state.
We can provide history of past attempts to legalize homebrewing based on whatever records we have on file.
We can help line-up allies within the brewing community.
We also advise homebrewers through the legislative process, provide samples of statute language from other states, who to involve in the process, how to avoid creating enemies that can sink the process, etc.
When needed, we rally the troops to contact politicians to garner support for bills, including all AHA members within the state, Brewers Association brewery members, and Support Your Local Brewery Members as well as posts to the AHA Forum and TechTalk. We include other influential people within the brewing community, such as The Brewing Network, Basic Brewing Radio, and Beer Advocate in our Action Alerts. We also use social media, including twitter (@AHADirector) and the AHA Facebook page to spread the word.
For both Oklahoma and Utah, we sent press releases when the legalization bills were signed into law, though our media database is primarily beer and food writers.
Gary Glass
AHA Director
170
Questions about the forum? / Re: Aren't the new ads a little misleading?
« on: May 27, 2010, 01:09:31 pm »
Ha! Yes, definitely unintentional! The plan going forward is to have one AHA/Forum ad and one paid ad in the header. When posted yesterday, these were the first two AHA ads that were created and since we don't yet have a paid ad to put up there we just posted them both.
Cheers!
Gary Glass
AHA Director
Cheers!
Gary Glass
AHA Director
171
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Home Brewing in Louisiana
« on: May 19, 2010, 08:12:46 am »
The info below is my understanding of the situation in Louisiana, though I would not pretend to be an expert on Louisiana state law.
First, there is no law in Louisiana that specifically allows homebrewing, nor one that specifically bans homebrewing. Homebrewers are not considered producers, and therefore don't fall under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana ATC. Since there is no state law specifically addressing homebrewing, the state defers to federal law on homebrewing (note: this is not generally true for other states).
Businesses with licenses to sell alcoholic beverages due fall under the jurisdiction of the ATC. There is a law on the books that states that businesses licensed to sell alcohol for on premises consumption (such as restaurants and pubs) may not serve unlicensed alcohol. The ATC interprets this to mean that licensed establishments cannot allow homebrew to be served on their premises.
HB1484, if passed, would create an exception to this through a special permit that will allow licensed businesses to host homebrew club meetings, competitions, etc. The permit is free, and must be granted by the ATC to any licensed business that applies for it. Each permit lasts for three days, but the bill does not establish a limit on the number of permits a business may apply for. It does mean that the business would have to apply for a separate permit for every individual club meeting, competition, etc.
First, there is no law in Louisiana that specifically allows homebrewing, nor one that specifically bans homebrewing. Homebrewers are not considered producers, and therefore don't fall under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana ATC. Since there is no state law specifically addressing homebrewing, the state defers to federal law on homebrewing (note: this is not generally true for other states).
Businesses with licenses to sell alcoholic beverages due fall under the jurisdiction of the ATC. There is a law on the books that states that businesses licensed to sell alcohol for on premises consumption (such as restaurants and pubs) may not serve unlicensed alcohol. The ATC interprets this to mean that licensed establishments cannot allow homebrew to be served on their premises.
HB1484, if passed, would create an exception to this through a special permit that will allow licensed businesses to host homebrew club meetings, competitions, etc. The permit is free, and must be granted by the ATC to any licensed business that applies for it. Each permit lasts for three days, but the bill does not establish a limit on the number of permits a business may apply for. It does mean that the business would have to apply for a separate permit for every individual club meeting, competition, etc.
172
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Legalization
« on: May 18, 2010, 03:04:30 pm »
We sent an Action Alert to Louisiana residents today in support of HB1484, which if passed will allow homebrew in licensed establishments, such as pubs, breweries and restaurants for homebrew events, club meetings, competitions etc. This bill is a vastly improved substitute for HB503 which was introduced earlier this year.
The Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission consider homebrewing to be legal based on the federal homebrew law, but according to the ATC, it is currently not legal to serve unlicensed alcoholic beverages at licensed establishments.
See http://bit.ly/duFbBp for the Action Alert.
The Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission consider homebrewing to be legal based on the federal homebrew law, but according to the ATC, it is currently not legal to serve unlicensed alcoholic beverages at licensed establishments.
See http://bit.ly/duFbBp for the Action Alert.
173
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Oklahoma Legalizes Homebrewing
« on: May 11, 2010, 08:06:46 pm »
So it turns out that the new law will go into effect earlier than I had originally been told. Since there was no start date in the bill, which typically would have been November 1, the bill actually goes into effect 90 days after the end of the current legislative session. That should make homebrewing legal in Oklahoma sometime in late August.
174
General Homebrew Discussion / Oklahoma Legalizes Homebrewing
« on: May 11, 2010, 12:19:36 pm »
Yesterday, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed HB 2348, legalizing homebrewing in the state. The new law goes into effect November 1, 2010.
Thanks to all of the Oklahoma homebrewers and their supporters who made phone calls and sent emails to the Oklahoma legislature and the Governor's office. Those contacts make a huge difference. Thanks also to Rep. Colby Schwartz and Sen. Mike Schulz.
Special thanks go to AHA member and now head brewer at the Mustang Brewery Gary Shellman for initiating the legalization process and working tirelessly to see the bill through.
Cheers to Oklahoma's Homebrewers!
Gary
Thanks to all of the Oklahoma homebrewers and their supporters who made phone calls and sent emails to the Oklahoma legislature and the Governor's office. Those contacts make a huge difference. Thanks also to Rep. Colby Schwartz and Sen. Mike Schulz.
Special thanks go to AHA member and now head brewer at the Mustang Brewery Gary Shellman for initiating the legalization process and working tirelessly to see the bill through.
Cheers to Oklahoma's Homebrewers!
Gary
175
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Legalization
« on: May 06, 2010, 12:01:13 pm »
Oklahoma residents call Governor Brad Henry and ask that he sign HB2348 to legalize homebrewing in OK. The bill could hit his desk as soon as tomorrow!
See the AHA Action Alert at http://bit.ly/bVzLXh
Thanks!
Gary
See the AHA Action Alert at http://bit.ly/bVzLXh
Thanks!
Gary
176
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: AHA Member Surveys
« on: May 06, 2010, 08:14:50 am »
Wow, over 2000 responses so far since the survey email went out around 3PM yesterday!
Thanks to everyone who has taken the survey! Keep 'em coming.
The information we collect with these surveys helps us to better understand who our members are, and how we can better serve you.
Demographics survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010AHADemographicsSurvey
Brewing practices survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010HomebrewingPractices.
Cheers!
Gary
Thanks to everyone who has taken the survey! Keep 'em coming.
The information we collect with these surveys helps us to better understand who our members are, and how we can better serve you.
Demographics survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010AHADemographicsSurvey
Brewing practices survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010HomebrewingPractices.
Cheers!
Gary
177
General Homebrew Discussion / AHA Member Surveys
« on: May 05, 2010, 02:43:11 pm »
AHA Members,
We’d like get to know you a little better. The AHA Governing Committee Survey subcommittee and the AHA staff have compiled two surveys to help us better understand who AHA members are and to help us better serve you.
The first is a basic demographics survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010AHADemographicsSurvey
The second survey covers specific brewing practices:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010HomebrewingPractices
We will pick three lucky members at random from among those who filled out both surveys and send them some fun AHA prizes as a way of saying "thank you". Only one survey submission per respondent per survey please!
Responses must be submitted by 8 a.m. MDT, Monday, May 17 to be counted. You will need your AHA member number, to verify your membership to complete the survey.
Thank you!
Gary Glass
American Homebrewers Association Director
We’d like get to know you a little better. The AHA Governing Committee Survey subcommittee and the AHA staff have compiled two surveys to help us better understand who AHA members are and to help us better serve you.
The first is a basic demographics survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010AHADemographicsSurvey
The second survey covers specific brewing practices:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010HomebrewingPractices
We will pick three lucky members at random from among those who filled out both surveys and send them some fun AHA prizes as a way of saying "thank you". Only one survey submission per respondent per survey please!
Responses must be submitted by 8 a.m. MDT, Monday, May 17 to be counted. You will need your AHA member number, to verify your membership to complete the survey.
Thank you!
Gary Glass
American Homebrewers Association Director
178
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Legalization
« on: May 05, 2010, 12:34:58 pm »
The Oklahoma House passed the Senate-amended version of HB 2348 today, meaning the homebrew legalization bill has cleared the legislature. It now goes to the Governor to sign or veto. We're now just one step away from legalizing homebrewing in Oklahoma!
179
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Legalization
« on: April 27, 2010, 01:47:11 pm »
The Oklahoma homebrew bill, HB 2348 is going back to House for final vote. The bill passed the Senate last week, but was amended in committee to clean up some of the language, so it must go back to the House for a vote on the amended version. The bill could come up for a House vote at any time now.
Once it passes the House, the Governor has 5 days to sign or veto the bill.
See the action alert at http://bit.ly/bb4Cuo
Looking forward to celebrating legal homebrewing in Oklahoma! Almost there!
Once it passes the House, the Governor has 5 days to sign or veto the bill.
See the action alert at http://bit.ly/bb4Cuo
Looking forward to celebrating legal homebrewing in Oklahoma! Almost there!
180
The Pub / Re: Homebrew in the Classroom
« on: April 27, 2010, 08:55:29 am »
I brought homemade mead to my masters thesis defense. I passed, so I guess the mead didn't hurt!