[olusteebus]

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/09/abc_agents_raid_birmingham_bee.html

[JohnT]

Incredable!

Two thoughts on this...

1) Your tax dollars at work. Pick on an honest businessman rather than going after the growing number of meth labs in the south. However, there is no money in busting drug pushers.

2) The only reason, the true motivator, behind this kind of thing is that the state wants to protect its income from the sale of beer. If you make it at home, the alcohal tax revenue is not paid. That is all the government cares about, getting tax revenue. They much rather have their population swilling down a 30 pack of bud then enjoying a nice homemade brew. Just as long as the state gets their money!

[olusteebus]

I think what it really is that it is against the law to brew beer or make wine in Alabama, despite the Federal laws allowing it. I think there are only one or two other states where that is the case. The ABC is obviously under pressure to address this illegal activity.

My bet is that some holier than thou legislator is pushing ABC to do something. It came up for vote last year but was defeated.

[olusteebus]

Thank God they are only making laws in the State of Alabama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqnUf8NH6g&feature=player_embedded#!

[garymc]

How stupid can you get? The store owner stocks a bunch of stuff that is plainly illegal to possess and sell in Alabama statewide and then applies for a license from the people whose job it is to enforce that law. Did he think they wouldn't notice? He's quoted as having done "a very large amount of due diligence." This apparently didn't include an even casual reading of the statute or discussing the matter with the licensing board. And then an alleged journalist writes this story. He also can't be bothered to look up the law or contact the agency for comment. What the heck is Al.com, anyhow? A website that hires highschool kids to write articles? If an article about this gets published in a newspaper or put somewhere where more than 12 people in Alabama will see it, maybe some progress will be made toward getting their antiquated law changed.

[Bartman]

Ironically, the laws are sometimes written to prevent the production of wine/beer but say nothing about selling the "means of production". So the law (which I admittedly have done no diligence on) may allow him to sell the equipment and raw materials, and the only ones technically violating the law are the homebrewers. Good luck finding and citing them however. That's why in Texas (and other places, I'm sure) there are head shops that sell drug paraphernalia that can, arguably, be used for legal purposes, like "herbal" remedies and tobacco. But if there is no potentially legal use for the items state law typically bans the sale of those items. It's all very cat-and-mouse, line-in-the-sand kind of crap

[garymc]

It prohibits possessing stuff to manufacture beer. So he's obviously in violation of that. It would not have been so bad if he had a few pieces of equipment that could be argued to be used for something else, but he had kits and the name of the store was something to do with home brew. The whole thing was idiotic for someone to invest money and time into under the circumstances.

[JohnT]

Perhaps the point is this.. Alabama should be more focused on their education system and less concerned if a homeowner is making 5 gallons of beer for his/her own consumption.

It is not illegal to own comercial beer (where the taxes were paid) and is illegal to own homemade beer (where taxes were not paid). It's all about money.

[garymc]

Except in dry counties where it is illegal to possess either kind of beer, so it's not about the money.
They get no tax money on alcohol where it is illegal.

[olusteebus]

bet you can buy cigarette papers all day long. I will check that out when I am up there.