One For Old-timers, Why Did Home Brewing Get Legalized?

[FNQ Bunyip]

Steve , I was thinking that Hansard Might be a good place to look for record of proceding but only electronic from '81 on ... Maybe a manual search somehow avaliable ???

Cheers

 

[Henno]

My grandfather was home-brewing from sometime in the 1920s until somewhere around the mid-40s.

:icon_offtopic:


I'm interested in how the boys used to do this back then. Was there malt extract available? I gather they wouldn't be all grainers?

My dad got into it, like many others I suppose, in the 70s when the laws changed. He did it in the garage in a plastic garbage bin with a tap in the bottom. Even though he was a megaswill boy till the day he died he freely admitted his homebrew was crap and only ever produced 2 or 3 batches with a few bottle bombs detonating in the garage which was next to my bedroom in the middle of the night!

 

[Steve Lacey]

Yes, I did wonder about parliamentary records; maybe if I ever get a chance to get back home and visit the library.

The malt in health food shops is an interesting observation. My first awareness of home brewing was when I was about 15 and the local home brew shop sold Brigalow kits. I bought one for the old man and ended up using it myself ... but anyway, it shows that there was obviously a strong enough underground movement and probably the pressure was exerted though petitions and the likes organized by people like the SA club named earlier in the thread and maybe a few other similar groups dotted around. I think that is the hypothesis I will work with in imploring the Japanese guys to get off their butts, because at the end of the day, they will have to drive the process, not us noisy foreigners.

With many of these sorts of issues IMHO, the ostensible reason for the government posture is frequently some sort of public health concern, whereas the real reason is financial, ie, tax and excise.

In this case I think it is just inertia. Japan is extremely conservative, especially about any change that has social implications. And a little bit like JamesCraig said, the need for the law change would be totally incomprehensible to a Japanese politician. How could anybody who lives on daily lashings of Asahi Super Dry (and would not be aware that any other brand exists), top quality sake, shouchu and top-shelf whiskey even begin to imagine why Taro Suzuki would want to muck around making his own beer or wine? The imagined loss of taxes probably does present a formidable obstacle as well. But it can't really be an obstacle if nobody is even pushing for the change, and that is the situation we have because nobody wants to bring attention to themselves as being a law-breaker.

 

[orac]

This site only goes to the fifties but its worth a look:

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/search?s...=home+brew+beer

 

[clatty]

People homebrew for two basic reasons: the craft of it (and its results), and to save money.

Just be careful of that last one... the saving money one... I would rephrase it to "People start to" but in my case it is not!

However the results are superb :chug:

Cheers
clatty

 

[Steve Lacey]

This site only goes to the fifties but its worth a look:

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/search?s...=home+brew+beer

That is a cracker of a site orac, thanks mate. I liked the one on the most modern match I could find (The Canberra Times, Tuesday 20 January 1953):

MADE BEER; MAN
FINED 50

SYDNEY, Monday.

A wharf labourer was fined
50, with 2/14/- costs, in the
Special Court to-day, for making
beer Without a licence last Octo-
ber.

He was Maxwell Methyl Read,
of Chaleyer Street, Rose Bay.

The court was told that Read's
home brew had proof spirit
strength of 26.5 per cent. Ordin-
ary beer strength was 7.51 per
cent.

Read called his beer "Satan's
Special Christmas Sense of Hu-
mour."

The Court was told that Cus-
tom's officers " stopped Read in
Rose Bay last November.

He told Ithem he was taking 10
bottlels of beer to a party and
said the beer was in a suitcase
he was carrying.

Read's home was searched and
66 bottles and enough beer wort
to make another 45 gallons were
found.

I think the proof system means that those numbers are about double, or a bit more than double, the actual ABV. Isn't it great that the journo saw fit to mention the name of Mr Read's potent potion :lol: :lol:

Even though that site lacks the articles from the 60s and early 70s, it certainly goes to show that there was a long history of people making sly grog, and what's more, being prosecuted for it! So politicians knew about it, by the end of the Liberal's reign there must have been a real sense of living in the dark ages, and Labor was out to make sweeping social reforms; so probably this was an easy target. A bit different to the situation in Japan, but still an important reference point.

Edit: added newspaper name and date.

 

[Sammus]

sounds like he was a no chiller too

enough beer wort
to make another 45 gallons were
found.

 

[Daniel.lear]

In this case I think it is just inertia. Japan is extremely conservative, especially about any change that has social implications. And a little bit like JamesCraig said, the need for the law change would be totally incomprehensible to a Japanese politician. How could anybody who lives on daily lashings of Asahi Super Dry (and would not be aware that any other brand exists), top quality sake, shouchu and top-shelf whiskey even begin to imagine why Taro Suzuki would want to muck around making his own beer or wine? The imagined loss of taxes probably does present a formidable obstacle as well. But it can't really be an obstacle if nobody is even pushing for the change, and that is the situation we have because nobody wants to bring attention to themselves as being a law-breaker.

Interesting you say that about social implications and being conservative. I couldn't help but notice the difference in drinking culture when I was in Japan earlier this year for the first time in Hirafu. (OT enjoying the wonderful powder snow, and had a few quite nice beers. The Saporro Yebisu Black sp? was quite good.) When not up in Hokaido I did spend some time around Tokyo and Kyoto. When traveling around on the Metro especially on the Shinkansen I noticed that it was not uncommon to see businessmen drinking Sake-one-cup with their Bento Box first thing in the morning. Although i must admit i did not see one excessively drunk local once while i was there.

Leary

 

[Steve Lacey]

Yes, Leary, there is definitely a different drinking culture, which by US and even to some extent Australian and UK standards, would be regarded as progressive. And thank God for it. Last Sunday I actually spent the afternoon wandering from Shinjuku to Shibuya, buying beer from convenience stores to drink as we walked and talked. I often have a beer on the train on my way home from work. Yes, generally it is a society in which people know how to show self-restraint and act within certain norms, not like us yobs, so there is a slightly more relaxed approach to alcohol consumption. That doesn't mean you don't see drunks on the train late at night or meandering their way home after day break.

But my what I meant about being conservative was in relation to social change that has often happened long ago in the West. Only one party has ruled the country since WWII (though that may be about to change). And attitudes to organ transplants, contraception, mental health management, gender equity, immigration...these are all things that they seem very reluctant to meddle with. So too it is with the home brewing law.

 

[barry2]

From

http://www.hss.adelaide.edu.au/centrefoodd...es0comment.html

"Finally, prior to 1973 home brewing was effectively illegal in Australia, effectively because it had to contain less than 1.15% alcohol by volume to avoid the payment of license and excise fees. In 1973 the federal parliament passed changes to the Excise Tariff Act that exempted home-brewed beer of all strengths from the payment of excise, provided it was for private consumption. Notably, this legalisation drew the protests of the big brewers at the time."

I imagine the big brewers in Japan would protest too.

 

[muckanic]

it certainly goes to show that there was a long history of people making sly grog, and what's more, being prosecuted for it! So politicians knew about it, by the end of the Liberal's reign there must have been a real sense of living in the dark ages, and Labor was out to make sweeping social reforms; so probably this was an easy target. A bit different to the situation in Japan, but still an important reference point.

It's all coming back to me like a bad dream, with images of dried Vierka yeast and other scary stuff. :huh: In Melbourne, I seem to recall the brew shop in Poath Rd, Hughesdale operating before the advent of Gough. They used to have these recipe sheets describing how to make 5 galls of normal brew, but then they would add the qualifier that they recommended you dilute by an extra 20 galls in order to comply with the law! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. I might still have a copy of those recipes somewhere, which are kind of a classic of their genre. Basically, the law was unenforceable, and that may have been a factor in its demise. Just imagine you're sitting there with a beer at home and you get a knock on the door from the alco-cops wanting to test the strength of your brew. Although something roughly similar was also done with TV licences. It was legal to own a TV without a licence, but you just had to make sure that a man in a van didn't come and park outside your house and extract a confession that you were actually tuned in to a station. And currently there are all sorts of seeds, equipment, etc, that it is legal to own but illegal to do much with. Makes you wonder why those sorts of openings are allowed in the first place ...

Don't underestimate government concern for its revenue base. That's what allows politicians to continue to bribe voters and remain in power. Alcohol and cigarettes are two major areas which are almost guaranteed to be slugged every budget. I assume that the Brit experience was that home brewing didn't collapse their revenue stream, and that would have been a positive in Oz. And now that I think about it, the US may have followed less than 10 years after us - the Carter government maybe? I'm too slack to look it up.

 

[barry2]

From

http://www.australianbeers.com/history/history7.htm

"On the homefront, there were shortages of beer throughout the war. Publicans charged exorbitant prices and only US servicemen were said to be able to afford bottled beer. Home brewing was still illegal but become very popular and its prevalence continued to grow after the war. Cyril Pearl describes the semi-clandestine acts of civil disobedience in Beer, Glorious Beer:

"[T]he shortage of beer during and for some years after World War II led to a big revival of home-brewing in Australia. Kerosene-tins, of four gallons capacity, were the standard vessel for brewing in, and the wash-house or garage (with the door discretely closed) the most popular site for the operation. It was said that the smell of hops and malt which hung perpetually and pervasively over the [Sydney] peninsula was so strong that ferry-boat captains crawling up the Harbour on dark nights could navigate by it. This boom in home-brewing led to a great demand for the vital ingredient, malt. [M]ost wash-house brewers, including myself, compromised with malt extract, a commodity stocked by chemists, and intended, I understand, to promote the health and happiness of infants. It certainly promoted the happiness, if not the health of my neighbours. Astonished chemists were unable to keep up with the increasing demand for tins of malt extract, a demand which at first they attributed to a surprising rise in the local birth-rate. In the early days of home-brewing, it was possible to buy a billycan of brewers yeast [from the breweries]. This, is like malt extract, was allegedly consumed therapeutically. It was said to be a specific against eczema, pimples, blackheads, acne and other unpleasant and anti-social skin conditions. The breweries must have become suspicious when streams of young men and women, all with radiantly healthy complexions, queued up day after day for their shillings worth of therapeutic yeast."

 

[Nitraz]

My Dad (now 79) remembers being sent to the brewery for a billy-can of yeast for my Grandfather's home brew. I don't think he remembers any other details.

Where did they get hops? Or was the beer medieval in character (bittering herbs, no bittering)?

 

[barry2]

From

http://www.avdgs.org.au/nlissue03.html



"Geoff and Nancy's house at 229 Whites Road, Lota became a renowned meeting-place. Here every visitor was treated with respect and honour, and greeted with a "bamboo, " a home-made bamboo mug full of the finest home brew. Inexpensive home brewing on a large scale was an important part of Geoff's philosophy: it was the only way he could afford to extend appropriate hospitality to the large number of guests who appeared there. In 1968 Geoff was actually busted for home brewing, which was still illegal at that time. He was so outraged at this unjust law that he rang leftwing Labor senator George Georges, but they had to wait until the election of the Whitlam government to see it reversed."

 

[Steve Lacey]

Amazing stuff, Barry, than you very much. Without wanting to associate you too closely to the subject line, I was kind of hoping that you might bob up and help out with this.

Are you still winning all the comps or is it getting a bit crowded at the top these days?

Cheers

Steve

 

[crundle]

Steve , I was thinking that Hansard Might be a good place to look for record of proceding but only electronic from '81 on ... Maybe a manual search somehow avaliable ???

Cheers

I wouldn't wish manually searching Hansard on my worst enemy! *shudders at the thought of having to do that ever again*


Crundle

 

[DJR]

Amazing stuff, Barry, than you very much. Without wanting to associate you too closely to the subject line, I was kind of hoping that you might bob up and help out with this.

Are you still winning all the comps or is it getting a bit crowded at the top these days?

Cheers

Steve

I'm not sure this barry is the Barry you are thinking of.

Interesting stuff for sure.

I had read a version of the history in a homebrew in Australia book, saying that basically the cops got sick of enforcing the law as it was a timewaster, so they legalised it. Amongst other gems as "don't attempt to filter your beer", "don't bother racking beer" and other things about heater belts and 25C fermentations.

 

[pcmfisher]

So how does one get home brew supplies in Japan?

 

[bum]

Same as everyone else, probably - from Ross h34r:

 

[Henno]

From

http://www.australianbeers.com/history/history7.htm

"On the homefront, there were shortages of beer throughout the war. Publicans charged exorbitant prices and only US servicemen were said to be able to afford bottled beer. Home brewing was still illegal but become very popular and its prevalence continued to grow after the war. Cyril Pearl describes the semi-clandestine acts of civil disobedience in Beer, Glorious Beer:

"[T]he shortage of beer during and for some years after World War II led to a big revival of home-brewing in Australia. Kerosene-tins, of four gallons capacity, were the standard vessel for brewing in, and the wash-house or garage (with the door discretely closed) the most popular site for the operation. It was said that the smell of hops and malt which hung perpetually and pervasively over the [Sydney] peninsula was so strong that ferry-boat captains crawling up the Harbour on dark nights could navigate by it. This boom in home-brewing led to a great demand for the vital ingredient, malt. [M]ost wash-house brewers, including myself, compromised with malt extract, a commodity stocked by chemists, and intended, I understand, to promote the health and happiness of infants. It certainly promoted the happiness, if not the health of my neighbours. Astonished chemists were unable to keep up with the increasing demand for tins of malt extract, a demand which at first they attributed to a surprising rise in the local birth-rate. In the early days of home-brewing, it was possible to buy a billycan of brewers yeast [from the breweries]. This, is like malt extract, was allegedly consumed therapeutically. It was said to be a specific against eczema, pimples, blackheads, acne and other unpleasant and anti-social skin conditions. The breweries must have become suspicious when streams of young men and women, all with radiantly healthy complexions, queued up day after day for their shillings worth of therapeutic yeast."

That is fantastic stuff! Makes me all proud and melancholy at the same time. The photo of the boys in uniform with the VB made out of bottles is a cracker as well. I wonder what VB tasted like back then?

I still wonder where the home brewer of that era got his hops from though. Any ideas guys?