Serving free homebrew in licensed premises - eg. a wedding party at th

[bingggo]

Hi folks,

One of my in-laws is having a wedding party at his friend's pub (in Tasmania), and both are keen to have a keg of my homebrew on tap to serve free to the guests, together with sales of the pub's beer.

His friend (the publican), however, has started to think his licence and/or RSA may restrict him to serving beer obtained from commercial breweries/distributors. I gather one of his concerns is that the homebrew may be thought of as the guests BYOing, and he doesn't have a BYO licence.

One possible workaround: I know a local commercial micro-brewer who may be happy to buy my homebrew for $1 if I asked him, and sell it to the pub for $1. But for all I know that may be restricted by the rules that apply to his brewery.

The pub-owner's concerns may be unfounded, I guess. I wondered if anyone has any knowledge or experience in this area?

Cheers,
B

 

[pcqypcqy]

As soon as you sell it for a dollar, you'd be up for excise and all that jazz, and could potentially get pinged for selling booze without a licence.

I would have thought a commercial licence to sell alcohol would allow them to let in BYO's if they so choose. I would have thought it was more a commercial decision for them, i.e. why let people bring beer in for free when I'm selling it at the bar.

 

[mstrelan]

You can't sell your home brew to the micro brewer.

 

[Blind Dog]

Homebrew is defined for excise purposes as beer made on non-commercial equipment for non-commercial purposes. You or the publican should probably check with the ATO that simply serving it at a wedding do in a pub doesn't mean if fails the non-commercial purpose part of the test.

If I were the publican I'd also check with the local council or body that issued the licence to make sure I wasn't in breach. Then I'd double check my supply agreements to make sure there's nothing in them that might cause an issue. If there with any of the big Brewers, there's often clauses about what they can and can't save beer wise. Whilst they're unlikely to mention Homebrew, they could well restrict how many non-CUB/Lion products they can offer. They're complete pricks about those clauses

 

[timmi9191]

1. You selling is a no-no
2. BYO is not an issue, a liquor licence provides for it (at least in Vic anyway)
3. As the publican is giving it away, excise on sales should be a non issue.

So legally I do not think there is a problem. However, the pubs food and beverage insurance and public liability may be compromised by supplying a product not subject to quality control standards. You too may be at risk should someone fall ill from your product.

But do your your own research with the local authorities and the pubs insurance and contracts

 

[damoninja]

If you're donating it, excise is not an issue.

Licensing varies state to state, the pub would have to make sure it was on the books, but as far as YOU being licensed to supply it to them... there are a few caveats in SA, at least



Look up your state licensing act, dissect it, wouldn't hurt to contact your local station and ask if you could speak to a licensing officer.

A rigged game of chance might work in SA h34r: h34r:

 

[bingggo]

Ah, of course, I knew the $1 plan had a flaw I wonder in general what rules apply to the micro-brewery. Can they only sell beer brewed on premises, or could they sell beer brewed off-site for free by volunteers such as me

But as others have said, maybe the licence does permit BYO. Will check that out.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Ah, of course, I knew the $1 plan had a flaw I wonder in general what rules apply to the micro-brewery. Can they only sell beer brewed on premises, or could they sell beer brewed off-site for free by volunteers such as me

But as others have said, maybe the licence does permit BYO. Will check that out.

He probably can sell other beer, but it'd be at his risk as he hasn't managed the process. He's supposed to keep records of everything so that if he gets audited by the ATO can trace where all his ingredients of gone and estimate how much alcohol he has produced.

But, once he sells this to the publican, even for a dollar, I imagine excise would be payable because it has become a commercial product.

 

[zeggie]

Set it up a small distance away from the main Bar and use a kegerator or Jockey box. Problem solved.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Set it up a small distance away from the main Bar and use a kegerator or Jockey box. Problem solved.

Perhaps right behind your seat at the head table, then you don't have to get up!

 

[bingggo]

Yup, I rang liquor licensing and they said sounds like byo, and that's the licensee's discretion in Tasmania. Problem hopefully solved

 

[Mardoo]

Don't forget that it's kind of like your boss asking you to work 4 hours for free. The publican depends on beer sales to survive.

I'm not saying this to discourage you from pursuing it, but just be really, really nice about it and maybe do/give something nice to the publican in appreciation, if they say yes.

 

[damoninja]

Don't forget that it's kind of like your boss asking you to work 4 hours for free. The publican depends on beer sales to survive.

I'm not saying this to discourage you from pursuing it, but just be really, really nice about it and maybe do/give something nice to the publican in appreciation, if they say yes.

Like hiring the premises?

Get you though and agree, I would suggest to them they invoice you for "equipment hire" or something of the sorts.

 

[Tahoose]

We did something simular in vic for our engagement party.

I just said ok X amount of dollars per head for food but I would like to supply the beer, we then payed something like $3 per head to cover the beer corkage. $300 and $70 for me to make a 100ltrs of beer works out a lot cheaper than $5/pot.

I then provided two commercial sized kegs to run through the taps. We did talk about where I got it from ect ect but it wasn't an issue.

 

[bingggo]

Thanks folks! Yes, I appreciate the publican is doing us a favour. But he is friends with the groom, and the groom and his buddies are drinking the place dry each week, and they are paying a significant venue fee - so hopefully it's all square