Ok, so I wrote a few emails last week to my Reps in the State House and Senate. I received a reply from Bob Dixon's office today which is very promising.
Besides that, I had a conversation with Gary Glass, Director of the AHA. We agreed on a lot of things. First, that Missouri state law does not explicitly outlaw homebrew gatherings or competitions. Missouri law appears to mirror the Federal Law, which is a good thing, because the Federal law goes on the say that organized gatherings, competitions, and clubs are legal for homebrewers.
It could be said, then, that the intent of the Missouri law is to mimic the Federal Law, which does not prohibit those activities. Therefore, it would not be illegal.
Now, before you go throwing a homebrew kegger in your town square, remember that the ATC just told me the other day that they would consider a competition against the intent of the law. Whether they are misinterpreting that law or I am, that misinterpretation could cause a lot of trouble.
I gave Senator Dixon's office the contact info for Gary from the AHA. I sincerely hope they call him and speak with him about this.
If they do, we can hope something will be done about clearing up the interpretation of this law.
I'll keep you guys updated. If there is anything to be done, we'll coordinate an effort with all of the homebrew clubs of Missouri involved. The AHA is excellent at coordinating such efforts. I'd hold off on stirring the pot until we can find out more about what's going on.
I will keep you posted through this blog and on twitter on what's happening.
Thanks for your comments and emails of support.
Ben
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Is there anything new on this? I see the blog post is over a year old and since I am also a Home Brewer in Missouri, I just wondered if there has been a change in the interpretation of the law or is it still illegal to share our beer outside of our own home?
ReplyDeleteActually, I was delaying answering your post in the hopes that Missouri Senate Bill 114 would pass the legislature, changing this fact for beer brewers. Unfortunately, this has not happened, and may not happen, as it has stalled due to some amendments added to it regarding the three-tier system.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, someone saw a relatively innocuous home brewing bill and added some politically charged stuff to it that makes it hard to get it passed. We'll have to see how it pans out, but I think we'll see it get put off.