Portland, Oregon home brewers stumped over law...keeping Portland Weird!

We have bumper stickers here in Portland that says "Keep Portland Weird!" I don't know how really weird we are. We do allow people to keep and even rent chickens inside the city limits. I find that unusual. But weird did come to mind right away when we began talking about the new ruling by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission on home brewers and their right to compete in our state fair or even share their brew. They would like for us to live up to the letter of the law and home brewers don't agree. I began to think...maybe we are just a teeny tiny bit strange.

OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL...a little background!
The Oregon Brewers Festival is back in town...Portland Metro area young people are learning to drink good quality beer...again. Those of us that are not that young know good beer and we love this festival too. Yesterday this advanced aged beer lover headed downtown for an afternoon of relaxed tasting along with a horde of young people from around the metro area.

Because my husband is a home brewer, I am interested in the micro-brew scene and several blogs I have written recently talked about micro-breweries and Portland's propensity for all things beer. It has become big business so our brew fest is a big draw for brewers from across the country. Up until now the brewers have lived in peace it seems, sharing knowledge and applauding each others success. Micro-breweries compete annually at our brew fest on the Willamette River water front in Tom McCall Park.

Even home brewers were included in the love fest that spread around the state like wild fire. Supplies are readily available and home brewers have become so sophisticated that it is hard to tell the micro-brew from the "homemade stuff". We were operating in a free wheeling style and have been for quite a while. Our Oregon State Fair in Salem attracted sophisticated home brewers to compete for ribbons and a little money. If you love to brew beer, this was where you could go each August and strut your stuff. Everyone was happy until someone blew the whistle. Note: It is not legal to brew wine or anything else without a license from the state but beer was exempted from that law.

THEN IT GOT VERY WEIRD
The fair could have been what caused the uproar...I am not really sure. Maybe the competition at the fair encouraged more home brewers thus cutting consumption at the local brew pubs. Or maybe home brewers were carrying beer to events sponsored by the micro-brew company. I know we have carried bottles of beer to location outside our home. I'm not going to say where but vendors of beer would not necessarily have been happy. (There may have even been signs but we did not notice them!) No one said anything and I think we were going on the premise that it is better to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission. Whatever it was, I suspect that these practices were cutting into the big business revenues.

So within the last few weeks our newspaper reported that a major micro-brew company wrote to the state asking for a ruling on home brewers sharing beer outside their homes and in competition! It turns out a very old law that may date back to prohibition bans the transporting of home brewed beer...anywhere.

"Is it illegal to go to your neighbors and let them taste test? By the letter of the law, yeah," said Mark Jaehnig of the OLCC. But Jaehnig says it's only possible because that's how the department of justice sees it. Which the OLCC views as a glitch law. Which home brewers like Neal hope can be worked resolved by new legislation sooner than later. (Home Brewers Fear Breaking Long-Standing Oregon Law | KEZI
URL: http://kezi.com/news/local/181298)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN...well here you have it folks. The beer competition at the Oregon State Fair has been deemed illegal and will not be featured this year or any year soon unless the state legislature sees fit to change the old law. The lawmakers will not be in session until January of 2011.

So I should not take my beer next door and I should not take a case of it to Arizona to share with friends...not if I am going to follow that letter of the law mindset and am a law abiding citizen. Home brewers could be asked to tow the line and all things beer in the Portland Metro and around the state may not be a love fest anymore. What are you going to do? Darn!

b

Five Little Ducks...stories played out!

The children's song about the little ducks leaving the nest to fly away has always been one of my favorites. Every mother has seen their babies fly away and rejoiced. Life comes full circle. Animals live that same cycle. Babies grow up. Birds leave the nest. Life goes on. So when the three ducks show up every year near my patio I am not surprised. But I am puzzled that it always seems to be the same three. Something just doesn't seem right. It appears the one did not fly away at all. Five little ducks Went out to play Over the hills and far away. The mommy duck went "quack, quack quack," Four little ducks came swimming back... And then Three Two and One. A drake, a female duck (a hen) and a not quite a drake but still not a hen gather here on the 5th green of the golf course. She leads and the other two follow along obediently. They eat, sleep, and guard each other. Each and every day this time of year they come. I have not named them. Jinxing them would be very pos...

How to be a 12 Month Snow Bird

Vacation Rental in Mexico I live around snowbirds 6 months of the year. I have heard those people say that they all want to live the "snowbird" lifestyle when they go home. But it just is not possible. They are isolated and cold. Social activities with friends and beautiful weather are greatly missed when they return to the realities of their "real" life. One couple I visited with lately returned to Florida this morning where they own a home. The woman is a nurse and works in the summer. They are not going home until May this year. It is too cold in Michigan in the spring so they are hoping to extend their good weather season by simply staying away. Besides that they love their Florida lifestyle a lot. Last week I visited with a woman that lives the snowbird lifestyle year around. No going home to the Midwest in the spring. They essentially vacation 12 month out of the year. And I thought their solution for avoiding unpleasant weather and keeping their lifestyle in...

If You Build It, They Will Come...Maybe!

It all began with a antique window in front of a local shop. It had been painted yellow, the glass was loose and all of the hinges and latches were gone. My old friend Betty would have approved...she would tell me it was just broken enough and damaged enough for me to drag it home. When my dear husband saw it, he wondered what he was meant to do with it. Imagine his surprise when he was presented with the plan to build a small neighborhood library exchange. It wasn't the first time he had heard me ask "How hard could it be?" Now it is six weeks later and we mounted the darling little library exchange on two posts in our front yard. I love it. Now the question is, will they come or has the time passed when people actually read something made of paper? Our association president stopped by and admired the box but left after telling me that he only read books on his Kindle. We will see. Would you bring a book and take a book? b+

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