Home of the BrewNosers

I'm almost 100% sure that if there's a way for the gov't to stop a group of people from having fun and helping out a sick person they'll figure it out but I figured I would run this by you guys/girls to get some opinions.

A good friend of mine recently found out that his girlfriend who just had a newborn is terminally Ill. Our band is having a fundraiser for them at a venue that just so happens to hold not for profit organization status.

We had an event there a couple years ago and sold a pile of alcohol but really didn't take much of anything in funds. So it got me to thinking what if I brewed a ton of beer and served it to our wonderful fans and just accepted donations at their discretion.

I went to alcohol and gaming office in burnside and they actually struggled to give me a straight answer on it. Although I know myself if I looked into it hard enough I would find out that "serving homebrew to the public for donation is illegal"

I just found it odd they couldn't give me a straight answer, and I've searched and searched online but could not find anything that specifically states giving homebrew away upon donation to a fundraiser is illegal.

Thoughts?

I've pretty much already talked myself out of this since a registered venue selling alcohol that's produced at a registered brewery could never put myself or my band in a situation where someone is suing us over it because they do something stupid but serving them homebrew illegally could. I'm just kinda curious what you have to say.

Thanks

I would just do it. Its better to ask forgiveness than permission lol. Don't take my advice though

Could you charge admission to the event? say a $10 cover to watch your band play and just give the home brew and other refreshments away? Don't advertise it per say. Just say it's cover for your band? No laws against giving away beer.

If your fundraiser is a private party at someone's home you might be able to swing it.

If the venue has a liquor license in place they'd first have to have their license suspended. Then you may be able to give away free beer, but I'm almost positive you can't sell homebrew, regardless of a license or not. Guessing that would fall into the bootlegging category. Want a straight answer your best bet is to contact the NSLC's Regulatory Affairs folks.
And then there's the insurance aspect of the whole matter. Who's insurance would cover it as I'm guessing the venue insurance wouldn't if anyone got hurt & you wouldn't have product & liability insurance to cover the beer itself.
A wonderful gesture, but sounds like too much red tape to do it.

Your first mistake was probably asking the question. Now it may be on record that you had doubts about the legality of your intentions. The fact that they wouldn't give you a straight answer is likely because nobody in their right mind would want to be responsible for telling you in any way shape or form that it was ok to take money for beer.

That said... you aren't taking money for beer. You're giving your beer away at a private party.

The donations are for your friend. I'm no authority but I fail to see a problem.


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Could make for some interesteing precedent setting court cases if I had 20-30 grand sitting around for a lawyer. Hahaha

Thanks for your inputs

Although you can get a special liquor license to serve and / or sell alcohol at events like this, unfortunately, all licenses dictate that the alcohol served must be purchased from the NSLC. There are no provisions to use home made beer or wine that I could find.

the-mailman wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:48 am

Although you can get a special liquor license to serve and / or sell alcohol at events like this, unfortunately, all licenses dictate that the alcohol served must be purchased from the NSLC. There are no provisions to use home made beer or wine that I could find.

Yeah I found that also. There's not much specific on the homebrew front, but there's enough information like the NSLC requirement derive the laws from.

Funny thing is that I'm brewing about 50 gallons for a wedding for the same person that this fundraiser is for. The wedding is in a private park, there is no cover charge obviously. We aren't even concerned about the legalities of that but it isn't open to the general public either, it's a private event.

The alcohol and gaming office specifically told me that that would require a license as well.

Hahahaha man they are so strict. Can't even have a party with all your friends and family on private property without a license. I can only imagine the frustrations breweries go through.

So the fundraiser was a success. All four kegs of Trappist inspired beer were sold out by midnight.

People cannot handle Trappist inspired beers hahahha