Thursday, March 7, 2013

Homebrewing about to be legalized in Mississippi...




This isn't about alcohol. It's about freedom to do what you choose in your own home.  Sadly, California is considering banning smoking in people's homes.

Via NPR:
Mississippi is poised to make homebrewing legal, after its legislature approved a beer-brewing measure Wednesday. The bill now heads to Gov. Phil Bryant, who last year approved a move to raise the state's maximum alcohol limits on beer — something the current bill's supporters point to with optimism. The governor's office has not indicated whether he intends to sign the bill.

The development means that Alabama could soon be the lone U.S. state in which it is illegal to make beer for personal consumption. The Alabama legislature is considering its own bill to legalize brewing beer at home.

While homebrewing hadn't been explicitly outlawed in Mississippi, the practice occupied what Craig Hendry, president of the advocacy group Raise Your Pints, calls "sort of a gray area."

In 2012, Mississippi's attorney general said homebrewing was legal, as long as it's done with a $1,000 commercial brewing license — an imposing hurdle with its own complications. The issue is now settled; if the governor signs the bill, it would take effect on July 1.

Of course, people have long brewed beer in both Mississippi, where a homebrew supply store opened in Jackson last year, and Alabama, where the hobby is deemed a felony akin to moonshining — and where the possession of brewing equipment is illegal. Read more here...
Alabama is the only remaining state where homebrewing is a felony. 

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