Bill to Change Law for Homebrewing Comps in Iowa

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:13 am

According to this article, it is esentially illegal to take your homebrew out of your home and share it. It is for personal consumption only. Our "gray" area is really not that gray. It is just not enforced to the letter of the law. Nice if this goes through. If we had to, I wonder if we could have festival attendees pick a best beer of the fest so we can indentify all of them as judges as another precaution.

Sort of funny as the state fair has included homebrew for quite some time.

http://www.radioiowa.com/2013/03/25/ope ... petitions/

Bill would open Iowa home brews to exhibitions, competitions
March 25, 2013 By O. Kay Henderson

Legislators are considering a bill that would help Iowans who are a bit competitive about the beer they brew in their own home.

It’s illegal for Iowans to enter their home brews in exhibitions or competitions because state law says beer brewed at home is for personal consumption only. Senator Liz Mathis, a Democrat from Robins, says that means the judges in a competition can’t sample home brews made in Iowa.

“What the new bill shows is that you could be able to take some of your home-brewed beer and leave your home and take it to this exhibition or festival and allow judges to sample it,” Mathis says. “What it doesn’t allow for is for that home-brewed beer to be sold in mass quantities.”
Alabama is the only state in the union where brewing beer at home is illegal. Home brewing is a growing hobby in the United States. Membership in the American Homebrewers Association has quadrupled in the past seven years.

“I think even President Obama has talked about home brew beer,” Mathis says.

The White House chefs have bottled an ale and a porter, using honey harvested from the White House garden. A long time ago, Mathis wanted to try her hand at beer brewing.

“Back in 1976, there were five of us in a bio chem class and we were wondering if we might be able to try something like that, but were deterred by our teacher saying, ‘You probably shouldn’t try that.’ You know the drinking age was 18 back then,” Mathis says, laughing, “so we were very inquisitive and curious but, no, we didn’t go ahead with the plans.”

The bill to let home brewers enter their beers in competitions has unanimously passed both the Iowa House and the Senate, but senators made a slight change that must be approved by the House before the legislation can go to Governor Branstad for his signature.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:39 am

Wow this is great news for us. Oregon learned this lesson the hard way with their state fair competition. They got shut down a couple of years back because their law was basically the same. They had to put together a campaign and rush to get legislation passed so that they could hold the state fair comp and others the following year. They had been holding the comp for something like 20 years prior and no one had raised the issue.

On 03/26/2013 11:13 AM, Matt F wrote:

According to this article, it is esentially illegal to take your homebrew out of your home and share it. It is for personal consumption only. Our "gray" area is really not that gray. It is just not enforced to the letter of the law. Nice if this goes through. If we had to, I wonder if we could have festival attendees pick a best beer of the fest so we can indentify all of them as judges as another precaution.

Sort of funny as the state fair has included homebrew for quite some time.

http://www.radioiowa.com/2013/03/25/opening-iowa-home-brews-to-exhibitions-competitions/

Bill would open Iowa home brews to exhibitions, competitions
March 25, 2013 By O. Kay Henderson

Legislators are considering a bill that would help Iowans who are a bit competitive about the beer they brew in their own home.

It’s illegal for Iowans to enter their home brews in exhibitions or competitions because state law says beer brewed at home is for personal consumption only. Senator Liz Mathis, a Democrat from Robins, says that means the judges in a competition can’t sample home brews made in Iowa.

“What the new bill shows is that you could be able to take some of your home-brewed beer and leave your home and take it to this exhibition or festival and allow judges to sample it,” Mathis says. “What it doesn’t allow for is for that home-brewed beer to be sold in mass quantities.”
Alabama is the only state in the union where brewing beer at home is illegal. Home brewing is a growing hobby in the United States. Membership in the American Homebrewers Association has quadrupled in the past seven years.

“I think even President Obama has talked about home brew beer,” Mathis says.

The White House chefs have bottled an ale and a porter, using honey harvested from the White House garden. A long time ago, Mathis wanted to try her hand at beer brewing.

“Back in 1976, there were five of us in a bio chem class and we were wondering if we might be able to try something like that, but were deterred by our teacher saying, ‘You probably shouldn’t try that.’ You know the drinking age was 18 back then,” Mathis says, laughing, “so we were very inquisitive and curious but, no, we didn’t go ahead with the plans.”

The bill to let home brewers enter their beers in competitions has unanimously passed both the Iowa House and the Senate, but senators made a slight change that must be approved by the House before the legislation can go to Governor Branstad for his signature.

Matt Franklin
Slappy Brewing North

On Tap:
Hefeweizen
Funk You Very Much Belgian Sour
Club Templeton RIS with Coffee
Bourbon Barrel Aged Up in Smoke Imperial Porter

Ferementing/Aging:
Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
Concecration Clone

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DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:11 am

Interesting. Do we know who championed this piece of legislation and/or where it came from?

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 11:43 AM, carrisr <brew-news@crbeernuts.org (brew-news@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Wow this is great news for us. Oregon learned this lesson the hard way with their state fair competition. They got shut down a couple of years back because their law was basically the same. They had to put together a campaign and rush to get legislation passed so that they could hold the state fair comp and others the following year. They had been holding the comp for something like 20 years prior and no one had raised the issue.

On 03/26/2013 11:13 AM, Matt F wrote:

: According to this article, it is esentially illegal to take your homebrew out of your home and share it. It is for personal consumption only. Our "gray" area is really not that gray. It is just not enforced to the letter of the law. Nice if this goes through. If we had to, I wonder if we could have festival attendees pick a best beer of the fest so we can indentify all of them as judges as another precaution.

Sort of funny as the state fair has included homebrew for quite some time.

http://www.radioiowa.com/2013/03/25/opening-iowa-home-brews-to-exhibitions-competitions/

Bill would open Iowa home brews to exhibitions, competitions
March 25, 2013 By O. Kay Henderson

Legislators are considering a bill that would help Iowans who are a bit competitive about the beer they brew in their own home.

It’s illegal for Iowans to enter their home brews in exhibitions or competitions because state law says beer brewed at home is for personal consumption only. Senator Liz Mathis, a Democrat from Robins, says that means the judges in a competition can’t sample home brews made in Iowa.

“What the new bill shows is that you could be able to take some of your home-brewed beer and leave your home and take it to this exhibition or festival and allow judges to sample it,” Mathis says. “What it doesn’t allow for is for that home-brewed beer to be sold in mass quantities.”
Alabama is the only state in the union where brewing beer at home is illegal. Home brewing is a growing hobby in the United States. Membership in the American Homebrewers Association has quadrupled in the past seven years.

“I think even President Obama has talked about home brew beer,” Mathis says.

The White House chefs have bottled an ale and a porter, using honey harvested from the White House garden. A long time ago, Mathis wanted to try her hand at beer brewing.

“Back in 1976, there were five of us in a bio chem class and we were wondering if we might be able to try something like that, but were deterred by our teacher saying, ‘You probably shouldn’t try that.’ You know the drinking age was 18 back then,” Mathis says, laughing, “so we were very inquisitive and curious but, no, we didn’t go ahead with the plans.”

The bill to let home brewers enter their beers in competitions has unanimously passed both the Iowa House and the Senate, but senators made a slight change that must be approved by the House before the legislation can go to Governor Branstad for his signature.

Matt Franklin
Slappy Brewing North

On Tap:
Hefeweizen
Funk You Very Much Belgian Sour
Club Templeton RIS with Coffee
Bourbon Barrel Aged Up in Smoke Imperial Porter

Ferementing/Aging:
Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
Concecration Clone

Randy Carris
Cedar Log Brewhouse
CR Beer Nuts Event Coordinator

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Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:03 pm

Lee, You could always ask Senator Robert M. Hogg. He lives on Otis Rd. Almost like he's your neighbor or something.

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:41 pm

I had no idea he lived over there. I think that's the old Kazimour Orchards location. I am thoroughly disappointed his nickname is "Rob" as it clearly should be Robert "Boss" Hogg, but I may just have to stop by for a visit, anyway.

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 3:03 PM, Steven P <brew-news@crbeernuts.org (brew-news@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Lee, You could always ask Senator Robert M. Hogg. He lives on Otis Rd. Almost like he's your neighbor or something.

"Payday came and with it beer"
- Rudyard Kipling

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carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:05 pm

We may all need to make some calls or visits on this very soon. I was trying to get Third Base set up for our April meeting, but today Travis told me that El Bait Shop got a letter from the State staying

"homebrew is intended for home consumption only, and may not be served, consumed or judged in any public place, but particularly those public places that hold liquor licenses."

Sounds like Jimmy Carter hour is being shut down. Third Base is now uncomfortable with us bringing home brew to meetings as a result.

Unfortunately, it also pretty much guarantees that our festival will get shut down now if the State is actively enforcing the current bad rules.

The following was posted to the IBU FB page:
"Well...our time has come where we need to stand up for homebrewing. A letter/ruling from the IABD regarding the serving of homebrew outside of a home has been sent. It puts an immediate end to our activities held at el bait shop. Technically it means no more Jimmy Carter Happy Hour, no more meetings or competitions at establishments, and - quite frankly - no more serving your homebrew outside of your home.

This is all new as of today. As of right now we are asking everyone to take a wait and see attitude. We have notified the AHA and are going to gather more information about this. We will communicate our findings as we know them.

Bottom line - we have a call to action - It's time to stand up for our homebrewing. More to follow..."

Time to step up and mobilize everyone. I encourage everyone to contact their stage legislators and express your opinions. This is effectively an end to everything we Beer Nuts do outside the home, so if you want to continue having events and meetings outside someone's basement we need to make ourselves heard.

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:54 am

Both the House and Senate have passed legislation related to Iowa Code section 123. This will encode into the law the ability to have homebrew allowed outside the home for specific purposes.

http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Legislati ... HF488.html

Code section 123.144, concerning bottling beer, is amended
to allow beer bottled for personal use to be used other
than where it was bottled for use at bona fide exhibitions,
competitions, contests, tastings, and judged events, if
the beer is not sold or offered in exchange for any type of
consideration.

The bill history is below.

http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/ ... 533C&GA=85

They are now in the final amendment reconciliation process between the assembly and senate before this goes to the Gov. to sign. If you want to do anything, I'd suggest contacting the Governor's office to urge him to sign the bill once presented for his review and signature into law.

bf514921 · Post by **bf514921** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:47 am

so does our beer festival fall under
" if the beer is not sold or offered in exchange for any type of
consideration. "

Or , is it one big tasting festival , or is that a discussion for a different thread?

and for once, politics we can all agree on?

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:16 pm

bf514921 wrote:so does our beer festival fall under
" if the beer is not sold or offered in exchange for any type of
consideration. "

Or , is it one big tasting festival , or is that a discussion for a different thread?

and for once, politics we can all agree on?

If the new law passes, I would think our festival falls within the law.

tony b · Post by **tony b** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:57 pm

We're not the only state with goofy-assed beer laws.

http://news.msn.com/us/fla-brewers-push ... -beer-jugs

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:40 pm

Do we have any idea if the timetable for this bill will allow us to pour at Benz Fest in May? All this beer and cider in my basement won't drink itself....

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:57 am

I believe Matt gave us the thumbs up. Note that both versions passed their respective chambers unanimously.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:09 am

We'll be discussing how the new enforcement of the old law will effect all events at our board meeting Wednesday night. If anyone wants to share any info let us know if you'd like to attend. We'll make an official announcement on the private section of these forums.

Right now, we're in a wait and see mode. Hopefully this bill will go through before Benz Fest, but I've not heard anything about whether it would go into effect immediately or at a future date. I encourage everyone to write their representatives and the Governor to support legislation to allow home brewed beer outside the home. So far I've gotten a response back from Senator Bowman vowing support, and a I'll "keep your views in mind" response from the Governor's office.

So far by searching http://search.legis.state.ia.us I was able to find HF488 (house) and SF271 (Senate), but I have no idea what the current status is. HF488 shows that it passed the house on 3/12. SF271 shows as passed by the senate on 3/20 but was also amended. Does that mean it has to go back to the house? If there's a better way to track this I'd like to know it.

On 04/02/2013 06:57 AM, Steven P wrote:

I believe Matt gave us the thumbs up. Note that both versions passed their respective chambers unanimously.

"Payday came and with it beer"
- Rudyard Kipling

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Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:13 am

I defer to Randy. More info to follow.

However, Lee, if you need help I'm sure I could free up a growler or two to assist with depleting your supply.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:18 am

A club spokesman should contact the AHA. One of their primary tasks is to help homebrewers with these types of laws. They have the expertise in this area.

Cedar Rapids Brewing Society