Brewsweek

Through scouring the web for beer news, it has come to my attention that the crooked-letter state, Mississippi, is still running under antiquated alcohol laws. These laws among other things, make it illegal for a person to brew beer at home (but making wine is dandy) and also prohibits the sale of beer with a higher “Alcohol By Weight” than 5% (but grain alcohol is swell). Fortunately, there’s a group of Mississippians who aren’t taking this lightly (there’s a beer pun in there somewhere, I’m sure). Mississippians for Economic and Beverage Advancement is “a grassroots, citizen-driven movement committed to lifting the 5% alcohol by weight limit for beer brewed or sold in Mississippi”. From the MEBA site:

Like South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina, we can also be successful in changing our outdated beer laws. They did it and so can we, but we need your help. We need people willing to take a hands-on role in the heart of the organization, to help do the work, such as organizing events, distributing flyers, enlisting the support of sponsors, and more. And we need people to spread the word. Tell all your friends about MEBA, and get new people interested in craft beer. Mississippi’s strict laws haven’t provided a very friendly environment for “beer culture,” so many people here don’t even realize what non-mass market beer is. Let’s work to change that.

Please visit www.meba.ms and sign up for their newsletter at the bottom of the page to learn what you can do to overturn these anachronistic alcohol restrictions.

Tags: Mississippi, MEBA, beer legislation, homebrew, ABW, beer laws, Mississippians for Economic and Beverage Advancement

It’s fitting that the kickoff post of this Brewsweek blog would coincide with the only American “holiday” related to the subject we’re here for. It was on this day in 1933 that President Roosevelt ratified the Twenty-First Amendment, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment’s banning of “intoxicating liquors” at the national level and leaving each state the decision to allow alcohol. The Twenty-First Amendment reads:

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. 

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

I’m hoping that the topic of beer legislation plays a big part in the future of Brewsweek. There are still many regions in the United States that are running under antiquated alcohol laws and restricting beer enthusiasts from making, purchasing, providing and/or consuming quality beer. I’ll do my best spread the word about grassroots beer advocacy groups throughout the US and the world.

…now I think Franklin Roosevelt said it best on this day 74 years ago: “I believe this would be a good time for a beer.”

Tags: 1933, advocacy, amendment, beer, December 5, eighteenth, prohibition, ratify, repeal, twenty-first