Posted on 03/10/2008 9:50:29 AM PDT by vietvet67
HARVEST, ALA. -- Two dozen guys are crowded into a basement, talking loudly over Triscuits, when Scott Oberman breaks the law.
In defiance of Alabama Criminal Code 28-4-20, he pours his buddy a beer.
"John Tipton's Chocolate Porter," he announces. It's a dark brown beer, almost black, with a taste that starts out astringent, like cheap red wine, then mellows into a silky chocolate flavor, with fleeting notes of coffee and cinnamon.
Tipton, a big-bellied mechanical engineer, brewed it at home, for fun. That's illegal in Alabama. He estimates the beer is about 8% alcohol by volume. That's illegal, too.
But it won't be for long, if the guys in the basement get their way.
Seventy-five years after Prohibition, beer aficionados in Alabama are fighting for the right to brew and chug as they please. That's raised the ire of Southern Baptists, who frown on alcohol in any form. As they jockey for advantage in the Legislature, one side quotes Scripture. The other cites BeerAdvocate.com. One talks morality. The other, malt.
Though this may seem like an only-in-the-Bible-Belt brawl, booze-related debates have flared recently in a number of states.
In Virginia, for instance, sangria was the talk of the statehouse after a Spanish restaurant was cited for illegally mixing brandy with wine, in violation of a 1930s-era statute. Idaho lawmakers may soon amend the criminal code to permit vodka sales on election days. And in Colorado, lawmakers have considered rescinding a law that bans supermarkets (but not liquor stores) from selling wine with more than 3.2% alcohol content.
Here in Alabama, home-brewing beer has long been a Class A misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Savages....
L
That’s big government for you.
The flavor notes begin to mellow after the second pitcher.
The Lutheran will speak to you in the Liquor Store.
Vote for statists, get statism. I have no sympathy for those who want freedom to produce and consume their drug of choice but still want to toss people in jail for having a pot plant. And no, I don’t smoke pot. And yes, I do drink beer.
Re-vah-NOOOERS!
My chocolate porter starts smooth as silk, and finishes smooth as silk. The secrets? 1/2 lb of oatmeal in the mash and 3/4 lb Van Houten Cocoa Powder in the fermenter 1/2 lb of lactose when you bottle.
That’s OK. Most homebrew tastes like crap. Still should be legal though.
from Bama McCall
West bound and down, eighteen wheels are rollin’ ,
we’re gonna do what they say can’t be done.
We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I’m west bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run.
Keep your foot hard on the pedal. Son, never mind them brakes.
Let it all hang out ‘cause we got a run to make.
The boys are thirsty in Atlanta and there’s beer in Texarcana.
And we’ll bring it back no matter what it takes.
My homebrews certainly don’t taste like crap. Better than just about anything short of Samuel Smith’s
“That’s raised the ire of Southern Baptists, who frown on alcohol in any form. As they jockey for advantage in the Legislature, one side quotes Scripture.”
Ah, the Righteous Right, willingly using the same government force as the looney left. Just pushing different morals. The reasons for McCain are becoming clearer every day!
Would you prefer there be a federal law that overrides this state law?
Bama ping.
Ya know, this fight has been going on for years. It looks like it is getting closer this time. The “Free the Hops” crowd has it right, these brews do not appeal to yoots or to those who simply drink to get drunk.
Expanding the market is always a good thing, particularly for a legal product.
What kind of wine would only have a 3.2% alcohol content?
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