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Author Topic: Legality of brewing eisbier  (Read 9001 times)

Offline gabetoth

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Re: Legality of brewing eisbier
« Reply #30 on: March 14, 2011, 01:49:36 pm »
Michael's Kitchen is just a cool old local restaurant. What you're describing might be Saints and Sinners in Espanola, about 40 miles south of Taos, or maybe somewhere here in town that I haven't gone to (we have a bevy of restaurants in Taos, and plenty I haven't visited).

gabe

Offline scott

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Re: Legality of brewing eisbier
« Reply #31 on: March 14, 2011, 02:38:29 pm »
What would happen if you "accidentally" left it outside on a freezing night?

In the worst case you would lose your Brewers License and you would be out of business.

Actually the worst case is worse than that.  You could go to jail.  It is a federal offense.

My limited understanding is that freezing to concentrate ethanol is considered distilling.  My information comes from a book about making hard apple cider.  They clearly explained that distilling and freezing to concentrate the ethanol is illegal.  I have not reviewed the actual law though. 

If you are serious about doing this I would consul an attorney.  Do not rely upon what someone else is doing.  Also, asking a government agency about whether it is illegal or not is in most cases not good enough.  If the person who spoke to you is mistaken, that will not protect you from violating the law. 
Scott

Offline denny

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Re: Legality of brewing eisbier
« Reply #32 on: March 14, 2011, 02:47:26 pm »
I've read several fairly authoritative opinions that freezing is not distilling.  The rationale is that in distilling you're removing alcohol and in freeze concentration you're removing water.  But as I said before, we're all guessing here.
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