[mheitt]

In Virginia, commercial kegs must be registered by the beer seller to the individual purchasing the kegged beer.  I learned this when one of my sons moved a half keg from his frat house to his townhouse and when the police came by to tell him and his friends to quiet down, they saw the commercial keg and issued a citation for a misdemeanor.  See https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title3/agency5/chapter70/section180/

Now, another one of my sons wants to bring an extra kegging setup I have to the same frat house (my sons are frat brothers) so they can dispense jungle juice (apparently, college kids haven't developed good taste yet) at parties.  The leaders of the frat are weary about the above-referenced keg laws because of my older son's experience four years ago, as it is unclear whether they apply to Cornelius kegs.  You'll note that the definition of "keg" in the statute is "Any container capable of holding four gallons or more of beer or wine and which is designed to dispense beer or wine directly from the container for purposes of consumption," and no distinction between Cornelius kegs and commercial Sankey kegs.  Interestingly, the law explicitly lists "beer or wine" rather than "alcoholic beverages." which makes me think that a Cornelius keg with jungle juice in it is not a keg.

So, Virginia homebrewers, have any of you had any difficulties with Corney kegs???  Are there other laws relevant to kegs in VA that we should consider?

[allenhuerta]

Don't ask. Don't tell.



Wait..  that's not what that's about.

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[kramerog]

Only kegs of licensed alcohol are regulated - "No person licensed to sell wine or beer at retail for off-premises consumption, or any officer, agent or employee thereof, shall sell any such alcoholic beverage in a keg without ... " labeling the keg with a special label.

However kegs that don't bear the special label are considered contraband. So the trick is to prove to the police that someone is the proper owner of the keg. It would be a good idea to keep a receipt for purchase of the keg handy.

[narvin]

The law, like many, seems to be worded in an ambiguous way designed to give a wide latitude of enforcement options.  One relatively foolproof workaround seems like it would be to get him a 3 gallon keg.

[denny]

You would be better off to ask a lawyer or your local alcohol bureau rather than homebrewers

[ynotbrusum]

Of course, some are both! 

Even so, I doubt that you would find many lawyers that are highly knowledgeable about the homebrewing laws - most focus on the commercial brewing laws, given that commercial brewers will pay for advice.  The AHA provides a pretty reasonable source:

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/

[chinaski]

I'd be more concerned about any money changing hands during any party featuring "jungle juice."  Any appearance of selling the stuff might be a much larger problem that keg registration.