About:
Homebrewing beer is now legal, on both federal and state levels, in all 50 states. With the regulation of alcohol predominantly left to the individual states, home brewing laws vary widely. Here in Hawaii, the legal limit a person may brew is 100 gallons per year. At 10 bottles per gallon, that makes the yearly limit 1000 bottles of beer. Thus, I am making it my goal to brew 1000 bottles of beer in 2014.
Brief History:
Since starting home brewing in 2008, I’ve learned a lot about brewing beer. I’ve read up on various traditional beer styles, various methods of mashing, colors and flavors of many malted barleys, yeast profiles, hop variations, and many other aspects of brewing. This included finding out what it would take to be able to legally sell my beer. Due to many laws, restrictions, and barriers, from both federal and state, one must go to extremes to be able to do so. Although it is legal on both the federal and state levels in the U.S, the regulation of alcohol is mostly left to the individual states. Thus, following this line of research, I learned that in Hawaii, while it is perfectly legal to home brew beer, there is a limit to how much you can brew.
The Law:
The Goal:
While driving a car, you come across speed limit signs stating the limit you should be driving. As with driving, when Hawaii sets a limit (100 gallons per year for beer brewing), I take it as a sign that this is the standard I should be following. So this year, the year of 2014, I will brew the Hawaii legal limit of allowable home brewed beer. I will brew 100 gallons of beer, or 1000 bottles of beer.