We received the following message from AHA regarding ILCC:
Hi, you are receiving this message because this email address is the main contact address for an Illinois homebrew club or homebrew supply shop in the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) database.
The AHA has received numerous contacts from Illinois homebrewers regarding the recent cancellation of homebrew tastings at Illinois beer festivals. What is most disconcerting about this are the blanket statements by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission (ILCC), which seem to indicate that they interpret current Illinois law to not allow homebrew to be served outside of the residence where it was made for any purpose, which could include samples of homebrew at homebrew club meetings, homebrew competitions, and homebrew supply shops. Articles about recently cancelled homebrew tastings at beer festivals can be found on the Courier News and Journal Star websites.
I have repeatedly attempted to get clarification from the ILCC on their interpretation of the law, but have yet to receive a response. At least one state representative has already expressed interest in looking into the matter and if necessary drafting legislation to get the law changed.
This message is an invitation to join the Illinois Homebrewers Alliance (name subject to change) Google Group for you or whomever is deemed the appropriate representative from your homebrew club or shop. The goal of forming this group is to facilitate discussion amongst the state's homebrewers to keep the statewide homebrew community informed and to act in unison if legislative action is pursued. This format of a small group, representing a wide range of clubs and shops from across the state has worked very well in Oregon and Wisconsin, where changes to homebrew law have been enacted over the past two years.
For the time being, this group is available by invitation only and is not open to the public, with the goal of being inclusive to representatives of all clubs and shops but small enough to allow for frank discussion and timely decision-making.
To join the group, please send me a direct email with the email address you would like to use (doesn't have to be a Gmail address to receive the group emails, though if you want to access the group online, the email address you use should be added to your Google profile), your name and the club or shop you represent.
Thanks for your interest,
Gary Glass
American Homebrewers Association Director
303-447-0816 x 121
i spoke with Gary some time ago at the beginning of our issues with ILCC/BACP. as a director at AHA, he was very approachable with questions and discussed much what is written above. i know that i will try to participate in this, but will also likely do it outside of CHAOS, as an individual.
...igz...
awesome, thanks for volunteering adam, this is very important.
Yeah, it was my gut feeling that I would be free, as an individual and regardless of my affiliation with Chaos, to meet with/join another organization whose goal was to advance homebrew-friendly legislation, so long as I was there in an individual capacity and Chaos itself was not involved. I'm not particularly concerned that, by meeting with AHA/IHA folks, I would be jeopardizing Chaos's 501c3 status, but I just wanted to make clear that I would be mindful of the limitation on influencing legislation.
-Adam
7pm.
When Wisconsin went through this a year ago a "board" formed with representatives from various clubs. They essentially created a new entity to tackle the problem and reported back to their various clubs. I believe AHA initiated the formation of that group. This problem has happened in a number of states now and I think the AHA is getting used to handling it.
I can give you the contact info for some of the members of the Wisconsin board if you would like to ask them questions.
Each and every member may do whatever they want as an individual home brewer. So, you going down as an individual and simply providing CHAOS with information you've found is perfectly fine.
James,
Yeah, I think I can. Do you know what time the meeting is?
Jim,
Notwithstanding my somewhat glib previous remark, I think the way for me to handle this properly would be to be very clear that my presence as a representative of Chaos at any AHA/IHA meeting regarding changing Illinois' liquor laws regarding homebrew is strictly limited to keeping the Chaos membership informed of AHA/IHA's activities. To the extent that I would be doing anything to promote AHA/IHA's agenda of changing Illinois homebrew laws, I would be doing that as an individual, separate from Chaos.
Obviously, before I did anything at all that could give the appearance of attempting to influence legislation, I would do some additional research on 501c3 to make sure that I was not jeopardizing Chaos's status in any way.
-Adam
Adam,
Can you make it to the next Square Kegs meeting, Thursday the 27th at the Dank Haus? They are having a beer lawyer come by to talk about options and the SK's are trying to get a representative from all the Chicago home brew clubs.
That's why it's good to have a lawyer on hand... ;-)
I agree, Adam.
We just have to be careful not to be devoting a "substantial" part of our time or money to "influencing legislation." We could lose our 501c3 status if we do.
This is good news, I think. While I imagine that any changes to Illinois liquor control laws (or the administrative interpretations of them) will take some time, having a body to keep homebrewers informed, and advocate on behalf of homebrewers, should work to our collective benefit.
Chaos should definitely be represented in the Illinois Homebrewers Alliance (or whatever the organization ends up being called). I am happy to volunteer to be Chaos's representative, unless anyone has any objections or would prefer to do it themselves.
-Adam