In October of 1978, House Resolution 1377 (Senate Amendment 3534) passed into law the right for homeowners to brew 100 gallons of beer per person (200 per household). That means in America (“land of the free”) everyone can brew beer, right? Are you sure about your state laws?
After prohibition home winemaking was legalized by federal law. The lawmakers in 1933 forgot to add “and/or beer” when writing the new law. There are two reasons no one corrected this flaw. The first is because large breweries lobbied against it. The other reason was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) wanted to keep the law in place so they could prosecute home distillers before they distilled their liquor. That “anti-loophole” remained in place for 44 years.
Finally everyone got tired of drinking crappy beer and pushed to get the law changed. This is the history every homebrewer knows. What you might not know is the changed law provided the right for states to ultimately decide if it should be legal. Hard to believe, but some states have different laws than other states. Sure it is weird that you can’t turn right at a red light in Texas, but are the “important laws” really different?
Are you ready to take it to the Supreme Court so you can brew beer?
Then someone mentions Utah and their theocracy . Oh yeah, you think, but you can’t really count Utah. That state is just weird. In 2008, the Utah representatives passed a resolution to legalize homebrewing, but the bill is currently held up in the Utah senate. Some see this as a stalling tactic in hopes that the bill will die. Either way, homebrewing in Utah is currently illegal. Hopefully the law will change within the next few weeks. So you can’t make beer in Utah, but you can elsewhere right? No.
Alabama is fighting a similar battle. In Alabama, not only can you not brew beer at home, you can’t even buy a beer that is higher than 6% ABV unless you are on a military base. Military bases are subject to federal law, not state law. As in Utah, religion is fighting the battle against the homebrewers. What is the Alabama Southern Baptists argument against homebrewing? “Beer corrupts the mind, body and soul”. And of course, they pulled the “think of the children” card. It is scary that religion in America could influence on laws that restrict personal behavior in 2008.
The list does not stop at Utah and Alabama. Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma all do not have laws that protect the right to brew beer at home. Kentucky and Oklahoma even have stiff penalties for producing alcohol. In most cases, the state just does not specify the legality either way. While the laws in these states were written to prevent distillation, the laws can be interpreted to prosecute homebrewing.
Several other states the law is very unclear. In Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and New York no one is really sure if it is legal or not. These states have laws that could be interpreted either way and the laws have not been tested in court. Louisiana law comes close to being tested with State v. Jordan, 20 So.2d 543. In 1944 Dennis Jordan was arrested for making homebrew; however the State Supreme Court ruled making four bottles of homebrew did not equal manufacturing beer. If a police officer decides to arrest you for homebrew in the other states, the ruling can go either way. Do you feel lucky?
In South Carolina and West Virgina, the laws are even weirder. In South Carolina, you can make beer as long as it is not over 5% ABV. No tripels for South Carolina! West Virginia law it is unclear how the law applies to beer. You can possibly make “non-intoxicating beer”, but the law is fuzzy if homebrewers need a license. “Non-intoxicating beer” is beer that is 6% ABV or lower. Again you’re at the mercy of the court is someone decides to arrest you.
There are groups, like the American Homebrewers Association, that are trying to reverse or clarify the laws in many states. You can always check the current status of your state on their site.
...I'm not too sure the cops are going to bust down too many doors and dump out fermenting carboys of beer like in the 20s. Also, the government doesn't protect rights. It can only take them away, as shown by their crazy laws in this case. Buncha jerks! We just want to live!
I live in Utah and have only been brewing for a little while, but I know several people who have been brewing for about 15 years or more. The home brew supply store I got my equipment from and I currently get my supplies from operates out of Salt Lake City. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they would be allowed to operate a business that only sells homebrewing and winemaking supplies if it was not legal to brew or make wine in the state. Also, I have never even heard of someone in this state being busted for brewing their own beer or wine. Maybe it is not legal, but if it isn't the law must be one of the very few the state doesn't even attempt to enforce
I'm not sure about particular cases where the law is enforced, but the bill up for debate is H.B. 425.
Technically it is illegal. Utah statue 32A-8-101 states that you need a license to produce alcohol. No, the cops won't bust down your door. It's a misdemeanor. However if they are there for another reason, they could add homebrewing as a charge against you. Maybe confiscate your equipment. The bill up for debate hopefully will correct this. It has been up for debate before (1997) and failed.
I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect that the reason you can have a homebrew store in Utah even with homebrewing being illegal is that the ingredients themselves are not illegal.
After all, what are they going to do - outlaw yeast? Bust you for having syrup or sugar?
The same thing is true for distillation equipment. It isn't illegal to build, sell or own distillation equipment. It's just illegal to use it to purify ethyl alcohol.
“Leela: "Hey, hey. We can all fight when we are drunk. Now listen. Why don't we just brew our own beer?" Bender: "You can brew your own beer?" Leela: "Sure. The kids at the orphanarium used to do it all the time."”
