Good news guys about the Homebrew laws in NB

[Dave Savoie]

I just received this today


Hello Mr. Savoie,

                         I am interested in meeting with you to discuss the issues you raise regarding home brew and the Liquor Control Act. Please respond to this e-message with contact number(s), so that we can set a meeting date. Thank you,

 

Mike Johnston

 

Mike Johnston
Executive Director/Directeur général
Public Safety / Compliance & Enforcement
Sécurité publique/Contrôle de la conformité
et application de la loi
364 Argyle St. P.O Box 6000
Fredericton, NB, E3B 5H1
' Tel: (506) 453-2038
 7Fax: (506) 453-3044
. mailto:mike.johnston@gnb.ca">mike.johnston@gnb.ca

[Dave Savoie]

Kyle and Thomas I would like you to attend this meeting with me as you are well spoken and educated the meeting
Is either 10AM on Feb 9th or 10th depending which works best for you.

[Kyle]

I will join you, and I can do either of the meeting times.

We should show up slightly early, well dressed, and with some sort of brief document to give him outlining our point. We should make our case with a prepared statement, probably 5 to 10 minutes.

I'm thinking:

Sum up why we want this
mention most other provinces already do this
mention local benefits of competitions
this way we will be able to support local brew supply shops, instead of importing commercial craft brew from Quebec or the US to take to events.

Good job Dave.


E.D. level is great, he has real power to enact change.

[Kyle]

we should make it clear that any transported beer will be sealed with cork, cap, or otherwise.

[Dave Savoie]

yes same rules apply to home brew as purchased beer

[Dave Savoie]

Kyle do you think you can dig up any marketing info on craft beer in canada or even just the atlantic provinces such as revenue generated by competitions such as the ones they hold in Halifax

[Kyle]

I'll see what I can find.

[Dave Savoie]

Ok the meeting is confirmed for WED 9th of Feb 10 AM 364 Argyle St

I think we should throw out there also that If you are a registered Craft brew club maybe have like a $100 yearly fee to be registered with the province we could obtain a special license so that when we do a teach a friend to brew day or hold a craft brew event we could hold tastings or something along those lines. My thought are ask for more than we want and maybe what we want could be what they settle for.


his reply
Sounds fine. Can you come here? I am at 364 Argyle St. I will likely have Darlene Harnish with me. She is the Director of Licensing and is exceptionally knowledgeable re the Act.

[Richard]

I wouldn't start talking about licensing if I were you -- don't give them those kinds of ideas or we might have to apply for a "home-brewing permit" on a personal basis

[Dave Savoie]

I doubt that would happen but to be able to hold tastings otherwise people will always have the misconception that homebrew is bad In some states you can apply for a form of special permit to allow for tastings I geuss that type of thing VS registered with the GOVT is probably the best way to go about it

[Shawn]

I doubt that would happen but to be able to hold tastings otherwise people will always have the misconception that homebrew is bad In some states you can apply for a form of special permit to allow for tastings I geuss that type of thing VS registered with the GOVT is probably the best way to go about it

So, when you're talking about holding tastings, you're meaning to the public (outside the FCBA), with homebrew? If so, that seems like big potatoes (is that a saying?).

Maybe we should be thinking baby-steps, here.

[Dave Savoie]

What I mean is lets say we hold a Demonstration on how to make great beer at say the the Frex
we show them how  to brew a stout unless they actually taste it how will they know how good it is
more to raise the awareness that you can make great beer at home. not glasses of beer but a mouth full type of thing

[Richard]

Sometimes the only way to make progress is sheer audacity backed with pragmatism... other times small incremental change.

I think the major issue here is that you DO NOT want to risk bumping up against the profits of NBLC. If you can pitch this as being complementary to NBLC, then I reckon you're golden. "improving the image of the art and science of local craft brewing", or something like that.

I get the feeling it might be worth getting Picaroons in on this one. Didn't someone say they knew a guy?

The rules are (supposedly) put in place to ensure the quality of the product being produced for public consumption. I suspect you could make some argument here wrt ABV -- "dangerous" liquor is generally anything involving a still. Perhaps a cap on ABV might suffice to allay those fears... which I'm pretty sure will already be a part of the law for homebrewing, anyway. That plus the fact that no pathogens may grow in beer (citation needed), really makes the consumption of another's homebrew safer than crossing the street.

HOWEVER -- anything public is open to all kinds of restrictions -- you would effectively be getting a temporary version of the liquor license that bars etc have. This is an unholy mess of liability, procedure, and who knows what else (I repeat again that my grasp of legalese is tenuous at best).

Your idea regarding small-portions could be enough to counteract that, mind. We would still be in a whole world of liability, which is generally speaking something to avoid in any situation where possible

I think that right now, just gunning for the right to transport + gift a certain quantity of home-brewed liquor, below a certain ABV, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, would be the best course of action.

On a side note -- Noble Grape held some public tastings with that Tim Vandergrift wine-guy, for which you had to pay for the ticket. How they achieved that legally would be worth investigating before wading in demanding the right to allow public anything. I suspect there is already a licensing route, and I suspect it's a lot more than $100...

Enough havering for now.

[Shawn]

I agree with what Richard is saying (I DID read it quick, but I got the gist!). I admire Dave's idea, but maybe we should be taking, as I mentioned before, baby-steps. Allowing the transport of homebrew for meetings is a good place to start.

Gradual recruitment over time will likely occur... nothing needs to be rushed. Using the yearly fees to benefit the club and its members (by education, supplies, bulk ordering, etc.) is definitely a must.

[Tony L]

One of the local guys who at this time is attending law school at UNB, worked at a LHBS and did a couple of AG demos at the shop.