calumscott
Regular.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 311
- Reaction score
- 32
Are you confusing the government with private banks PD? Fortunately for all of us there is a distinction (which, granted, has been somewhat blurred in the past few terms of government...).
I'm as much against "reward for failure" as the next man.
Oh, and "fair and just" doesn't, hasn't and will never exist... It's always going to be down to the individual to, as they say back up north, "mak a Kirk or a mill o' it".
Anyway, before I get a ticking off from the mods for straying TOO far into the realms of generally accepted forum taboos, back to the topic at hand. The laws on production of beer are actually pretty straight forward. The crucial part of it for home brewers is distinct between beer on one hand and wines and cider on the other.
Wine and cider = easy. You can produce it in whatever quantity you like so long as its not "produced for sale". You can in fact do what you like with it so long as it is not sold, not even for the price of the ingredients or at a loss. If you take any form or reward in cash, goods or services that's a sale.
Beer = greyer area. You can produce it for "domestic use". That is open to all sorts of interpretation but (although IANAL) I would take that to mean that I can do with my homebrew anything that I would have done with a bottle of beer I bought from the shop. I can drink it, give it to my mates, take it to a mate's house for everyone to share at a BBQ etc etc. If at any point I'm paid (cash, goods or services) specifically for that beer then I'd be in trouble.
So - if you were to have some form of cash collection (either priced or voluntary) for which services of accomodation and beer were given, then a proportion of that would be deemed to be for the beer and you're in trouble.
However, if there were no such collection and there was no expectation of any form or remuneration or reciprocation then you can have whoever you like over to drink it. But then, of course, you're out of pocket. That's where the comparison is drawn with the "normal" domestic situation of me taking homebrew round to a friend's for a BBQ, I do it to be nice and contribute to the party. There's no obligation for my friend to reciprocate and there is no obligation for me to bring it in the first place.
In short, if you invite any kind of recompense, that is highly unlikely to be defencible as being "domestic use".
I'm as much against "reward for failure" as the next man.
Oh, and "fair and just" doesn't, hasn't and will never exist... It's always going to be down to the individual to, as they say back up north, "mak a Kirk or a mill o' it".
Anyway, before I get a ticking off from the mods for straying TOO far into the realms of generally accepted forum taboos, back to the topic at hand. The laws on production of beer are actually pretty straight forward. The crucial part of it for home brewers is distinct between beer on one hand and wines and cider on the other.
Wine and cider = easy. You can produce it in whatever quantity you like so long as its not "produced for sale". You can in fact do what you like with it so long as it is not sold, not even for the price of the ingredients or at a loss. If you take any form or reward in cash, goods or services that's a sale.
Beer = greyer area. You can produce it for "domestic use". That is open to all sorts of interpretation but (although IANAL) I would take that to mean that I can do with my homebrew anything that I would have done with a bottle of beer I bought from the shop. I can drink it, give it to my mates, take it to a mate's house for everyone to share at a BBQ etc etc. If at any point I'm paid (cash, goods or services) specifically for that beer then I'd be in trouble.
So - if you were to have some form of cash collection (either priced or voluntary) for which services of accomodation and beer were given, then a proportion of that would be deemed to be for the beer and you're in trouble.
However, if there were no such collection and there was no expectation of any form or remuneration or reciprocation then you can have whoever you like over to drink it. But then, of course, you're out of pocket. That's where the comparison is drawn with the "normal" domestic situation of me taking homebrew round to a friend's for a BBQ, I do it to be nice and contribute to the party. There's no obligation for my friend to reciprocate and there is no obligation for me to bring it in the first place.
In short, if you invite any kind of recompense, that is highly unlikely to be defencible as being "domestic use".
