[phunhog]

Might be a good subject for a Pint of Law article  

Here is an article I posted earlier today about legal issues I believe would affect the homebrewing CSA model.

http://pintoflaw.com/?p=283

Nice article.  I think that pretty much sums it up.  I'd like to see the laws regarding this relaxed but I'm not holding my breath.  Maybe once the AHA finishes up the state by state war to completely legalize homebrewing this might be a good issue to devote some supportive resources to.

It was an excellent article! However I hope the Homebrew CSA's continue to gain steam despite them probably being illegal.  Sometime the only way for laws to change is to show that everyone is all ready doing it and that no one is really interested in enforcing current law.  I can equate it to the federal highway speed limit increase from 55 to 65 a few years ago. They did it because nobody was driving 55 and everybody was driving 65. The cops weren't busting people for driving 60, or even 65 mph. Likewise with homebrewing in Alabama....does anybody really believe that there aren't homebrewers in AL because it is illegal?

[oscarvan]

If you get big enough, you will draw attention.

It appears the money they would get out of you has to be more, or at least close, to the expense of going after you.

[kgs]

I do live in SF, and this is an interesting turn of events, because SF is a case of a city that does not have a homebrew club and yet has many homebrewers. (There was a club, once upon a time, but it seems to have disappeared.) This CSA feels like an interesting way to meet other brewers; it feels, in fact, like a homebrew club in many ways, except less emphasis on the meeting and more on the sharing. I really liked the homebrew club I briefly belonged to in Florida before we suddenly moved back to CA, and I miss the camaraderie, advice, beer-tasting, etc. The Bay Area has some very good homebrew clubs, but SF proper doesn't, and if you live in the area you know that traffic and bridges make a seemingly short distance pretty challenging to get to.

I won't comment on the legality (I even have an IANAL button somewhere), except to note that the first homebrew I ever had was shared with me on the dunes of SF's Ocean Beach several years before homebrewing became legal... I didn't know at the time that it was illegal, but I do have to note that it was hardly the only illegal activity known to happen in SF at the time; if anything, in those days beer was considered kind of "square."

[johnf]

If you get big enough, you will draw attention.

It appears the money they would get out of you has to be more, or at least close, to the expense of going after you.

That's not really how law enforcement works.

[kgs]

Question, with the usual IANAL, YANAL disclaimers: if the "CSA" reorganized where there was no cash involved except for membership dues, and it focused on sharing beer among homebrewers, would that meet the standards of a homebrew club?

I don't know that they want to do that or have considered doing that (I did write them to say I homebrew and am interested in participating), but to me the big appeal is connecting with other homebrewers, not sharing my homebrew with people who don't homebrew at all. I'm just curious why they went to the step of creating a "CSA" rather than a club primarily by and for homebrewers. 

[phunhog]

It's funny because that it is NOT a homebrew club is exactly what is so appealing to me.  I belong to a homebrew club and it's great but c'mon I will be the first to admit that we geek out! Get us together and we start talking about keezers, yeast pitching rates, hop varietals, etc. The funny thing is that my club is waaaaay laid back compared to some clubs that I have heard about. I actually enjoy sharing my beer more with non-homebrewers. They are always surprised...."Wow!! you brewed this yourself?" kind of thing.  I also believe that if you only share your beer with other homebrewers you are just "preaching to the choir".  That is why I LOVE the CSA model. It gets homebrewed beer into the hands of the public who might have never had a handcrafted homebrewed beer before.