My First 'commercial' Brew

[IainMcLean]

I'm new to this forum but have been on another for a while. it seems there is more knowledge available here so I'm reading lots and picking up info.

That's not what I'm posting about... After a few brews in the last six months, the first six months of my brewing journey, I have been 'commissioned' by someone who loved my belgian dubbel so much that he's paying me to brew him a batch!

It's brewing right now. It's pretty cool because it's paid for the ingredients for a new wheat beer I'm going to try next!

All I need now is a name for the beer...

 

[Fents]

call me captain obvious but you do know that selling beer without a license is illegal right?

 

[goatus]

I hope you are declaring that income to the tax man also.


Edit: Imagine the deductions on all your brew-toys!

 

[Bribie G]

I've done a couple of 'contract brews' for mates but strictly on the basis that they just pay for the ingredients (Coopers cans, dextrose etc and supplied their own bottles). One guy is a really nice guy whose family is with the Lord and he doesn't dare openly brew at home But he still likes a beer, especially at HB prices.,

However if you are making some sort of profit out of it on a regular basis, watch out for the Narcs - you could theoretically end up in strife.

 

[Muggus]

Yeah, this is probably not the kind of thing you want to announce online, or at all.
It's cool enough if you're brewing a batch of beer for your mate, but the money swapping hands is the frowned upon part.

Edit: Like Bribie said, the only "payment" should be in the shape of non-profit items...like supplies to make the beer, or something or similiar value that isn't money.

 

[HoppingMad]

I reckon all this excise & tax mumbo jumbo is annoying crapola.

I got recently asked to brew a beer for a restaurant in inner melbourne but had to politely explain about the excise laws in this country and why I couldn't do it without the owner getting a few things sorted for me. I think he has since decided it isn't worth the trouble which is a shame. Obstacles like this stop us from getting our beers out to a wider audience.

I dunno about jumping down the guys throat about someone paying him to do a brew though when you don't know the full story - if its a mate and the amount is small, is this really a huge issue?

Welcome to the forum Iain, I hope a couple of bad quickfire responses don't put you off posting here.

As for names for your beer, plenty of great puns to be had in the name Dubbel - Dubbel Trubbel, Dubbel Take, See Dubbel, Dubbel Entendre. I'm sure other folks here will have a bunch more.

Cheers and beers,

Hopper.

 

[goatus]

just to be clear.. my response was firmly tongue in cheek

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I doubt anyone disapproves particularly of the OP's intent, but it is possibly a bad idea to broadcast your intention to do something illegal??

Its just that those excise guys aren't exactly noted for their tolerance, lenience or sense of humour. And just in case he wasn't aware of the legal issues.. now he is and gets to make a more informed decision.

 

[cooperplace]

I'm new to this forum but have been on another for a while. it seems there is more knowledge available here so I'm reading lots and picking up info.

That's not what I'm posting about... After a few brews in the last six months, the first six months of my brewing journey, I have been 'commissioned' by someone who loved my belgian dubbel so much that he's paying me to brew him a batch!

It's brewing right now. It's pretty cool because it's paid for the ingredients for a new wheat beer I'm going to try next!

All I need now is a name for the beer...

Iain,

good luck with the beer; perhaps the arrangement could be better described as one in which your friend is paying for the ingredients and re-imbursing you for your expenses (electricity, your relevant vehicle running costs etc) incurred. After all, in commercial brewery, the brewmaster is the person who makes the beer and not necessarily the license holder. If your friend pays you for your time, some government depts might consider this income. As others pointed out, what you don't want to do is:

*earn income by brewing, or
*sell beer commercially.

As for name, what about Waterloo? It's in Belgium.

Peter

 

[goatus]

Sounds too much like LooWater

 

[johnw]

snipped

As for name, what about Waterloo? It's in Belgium.

Peter
[/quote]

isnt Waterloo already the name of a Belgian beer?

Just saying cos after the taxman and liquor license folks get a hold of you, you might also have to deal with some copyright infringement law suit

DrinkBeer

 

[IainMcLean]

OK.

Call me short sighted/naive/daft whatever. No money has changed hands yet. I was so thrilled that in such a short time brewing someone who has tasted my beer liked it so much. For anything illegal to happen, something illegal has to take place, of which there hasn't been an occurance yet. The original posting was a lot of 'tongue in cheek' to use a phrase. If the brew turns out like the original I might not let a soul near it - but I changed the hopping regimen a little to try and get more aroma so seeing as the last batch was drunk mostly by people other than me at our BBQ's as they liked it so much I'm thinking about locking this one away somewhere if it works well! I'm in no sense back-tracking, but maybe I should have thought a bit more before I typed.

The name thing: might have to be a pun on the whole thing: Duty of Care, Custom Dubbel, Excising Times...

 

[Bizier]

The Dubble Excise Excuse ?

 

[goatus]

lol

btw.. care to share the recipe? all this "everybody loves it" business is making me thirsty

 

[IainMcLean]

lol

btw.. care to share the recipe? all this "everybody loves it" business is making me thirsty

I'll try and dig out the original recipie and put it up tomorrow but we'll have to wait a while to see if the new version turns out as good...