hopheadfred wrote: I think I am just going to be upfront with the Board of Directors, at least one is an attorney I believe. They have much more to lose than me and I am sure they don't want to take any big risks just to have local beer represented.
Good idea. Let the attorney read over the pertinent laws, so you know you're on safe footing.
Of course I have played out another unlikely scenario in my head. The TTB and/or ABC gets involved and either I or the charity gets in trouble. I can just imagine the shitstorm that could play out in the local paper over an overzealous regulatory agency.
i did think of that, but didn't bring it up to make my post shorter. And it's not an overzealous regulatory agency you have to watch for. It's an overzealous petty functionary of said regulatory agency. (Say, one who is planning to run for office, or is looking at the Agency head's cushy office.)
I help run the bars at a local charity's fundraiser. Every time we get a new TABC supervisor in the area, he comes into town to show us that he's the new law in town, and he's going to shut down our drunken keg party. Then he finds out it's not a drunken keg party, and until he transfers out he's easy to work with. But that's because we, as a committee, dot the "i"s cross the "t"s, and throw in a few commas here and there. We are very careful.
Another target said petty functionary would go after would be the server who took the payment and/or served the untaxed beer. It may open them up to civil litigation should the shitstorm come and the charity needs to cover its collective ass. I know that in Texas, they are civially liable if they serve an intoxicated customer and criminally liable of that drunk kills someone in an accident.
And it's not just some regulatory agency that you would have to worry about. It's a distributor ratting you out to the petty functionary, because you're locking him out of the event. And if they aren't locked out, you're cutting into his sales with your free beer, and that's not "fair." (AB's been all about fairness the last few years: here in Texas and in Illinois; MillerCoors wanted fairness in Wisconsin.) And they would, to protect their business, rat you out in a heartbeat. They could also push for the petty functionary to make an example of you, so no other small brewers ever get that idea again. (I've seen beer distributors turn each other in for giving away freebies, tubs, cups, signs and for single distributor events. It's not uncommon.)
Most people would be on my side and maybe, just maybe, we could get the laws changed.
How many people who are on your side would be dependent on how big the shitstorm and how the agency spins it. You and the charity, with the helpo of a cooperative reporter, could be made out to be a cross between Capone and Hitler, out to make poor little children into alcoholics.
This will be the fourth time in 8 years that the brewpubs in Texas have tried to get laws passed that would allow them to sell to distributors for retail sales and for breweries to sell beer at the brewery. It's never been the public that comes down against it. It's the distributors. Last legislative session, an AB-InBev Vice President personally came down and killed the brewery sales bill. It's not the people who make the laws. It's the distributors.
Look, I don't know the laws where you live. I just know that what you want to do, however well-intentioned, would get you arrested in Texas. And with a violation of the liquor law on the books, you would never be able to get a brewers license in the state. Which is something else you want to keep in mind.
This isn't meant to crush your dreams, of make light of your aspirations. You're passionate about it and that's great. That means you'll succeed! Sometimes, though, that passion can lead you to overlook some things. All we're doing is trying to tell you what you need to keep in mind. We want you to open a brewery, 'cuz we'll show up flying the BN colors and expect, at least, a free bumper sticker. Maybe a pint glass. And one of those
special tours.
Definitely consult that attorney and keep us posted on this, brutha. Remember: The BNArmy has your back.
