[tygo]

Running Dry:  Belgium's Looming Beer Crisis

[uthristy]

Got this reply from a Dutch homebrewer:
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Didn't read all of the article but it's true the employees of Inbev are on strike. No Jupiler, Leffe and Stella leave the brewery

SO yeah, supplies are drying up, Strange that already after week this happens: It means the beer is in the stores is verry verry young imo...

I read in an article another big brewer called Primus delivered pallets of beer for the people on strike That was a laugh!!!!!

[joelambic]

Not necessarily a bad thing, IMO, if Jupiler, Leffe, and Stella aren't available.  Although, if the drinkers of those brands switched to better beer there would be less for the rest of us.

[tygo]

Philly cops raid bars for "unregistered" beer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20100308_Troopers_raid_popular_bars_for_unlicensed_beers__Dozens_of_gallons_seized_after__citizen_complaint_.html

[MrNate]

Philly cops raid bars for "unregistered" beer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20100308_Troopers_raid_popular_bars_for_unlicensed_beers__Dozens_of_gallons_seized_after__citizen_complaint_.html

"My main beef with this whole convoluted situation is that the PLCB is the sole regulator of a set of products that they do not even know the names of," she said.

Yeah. I can see how that might be a problem. But I can totally see how it makes Pennsylvanians safer, just read this:

Francesca Chapman, a PLCB spokeswoman, said that the registration requirement helps the state assure payment of state beer taxes and helps prosecutors identify alcoholic beverages in drunk-driving cases or any other type of prosecution.

(emphasis mine)

I can see how that's totally relevant. "Your honor, the defendant claims he was drinking Duvel beer. But as you can see in exhibit  A, the label clearly reads "Duvel Belgian Golden Ale!" [jury gasps]. "I rest my case, your honor."

Her argument basically being that to make 100% certain they can't be held accountable for misidentifying a beer in court in the essentially unimaginable scenario in which that might be relevant, they must confiscate any beer that they have misidentified.

Note especially that the only scenario in which the identification of a beer would be legally relevant is in a case such as this, where the need for identification has been crafted wholecloth by the PLCB through a moronically circular argument.

[a10t2]

Note especially that the only scenario in which the identification of a beer would be legally relevant is in a case such as this, where the need for identification has been crafted wholecloth by the PLCB through a moronically circular argument.

I could envision a situation in which a witness testifies that the defendant had had six "beers" before driving, and it would actually be important for the court to know whether those are Duvel or MGD 64.

It doesn't make the law any less moronic (IMHO), but it isn't total BS.

Gotta love that the owner cops to breaking the law in a newspaper interview, though...

[tygo]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the paying of the beer taxes is more important to the PLCB than the specific identification of beers in DUI cases.

[MrNate]

Note especially that the only scenario in which the identification of a beer would be legally relevant is in a case such as this, where the need for identification has been crafted wholecloth by the PLCB through a moronically circular argument.

I could envision a situation in which a witness testifies that the defendant had had six "beers" before driving, and it would actually be important for the court to know whether those are Duvel or MGD 64.

It doesn't make the law any less moronic (IMHO), but it isn't total BS.

Gotta love that the owner cops to breaking the law in a newspaper interview, though...

The accurate categorization of the beer in question in such a scenario remains irrelevant. Measured BAC and alcohol content and amount of the beer consumed is all that's important.

Tygo - Yes, of course. The DUI argument is a red herring, the introduction of which is clearly designed to make their actions seem like something that is reasonable for the protection of the public at large, but which by so transparently failing to do only magnifies the obvious problem.

[tygo]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100310_In_another_raid__State_Police_hit_beer_distributor__Origlio_s__in_Far_Northeast.html