Government is to blame for bad American beer??

I make all my own beer, and it is great!!!

If it weren't for the 1979 deregulation, at the very least you would be heavily taxed for that beer you made, if you were allowed to make it at all.

I frankly wouldn't care one way or another. I'd still make my own beer and wine for private consumption.

You'd be fined or thrown in jail if pre 1979 laws were still in place.

In 1949 the ATF enacted a regulation that was very loosly enforced but not common knoweldge that you could produce upto 200 gallons of spirits or wine (family of two) or 100 gallons (household of one). This regulation was then put into effect as law in 1978/79. Indeed prior to that time one could be arrested etc. for making your own alcoholic beverages.

It is still illegal to make large quanities and sell it, ie: moonshine / Everclear or beer in larger quanities when the intent is to sell for profit. There is a loophole however big enough to drive tanker trucks through. If you give it away, there is no tax to be paid. Having given it away you never have to prove how much you made.

Additionally, the production of alcoholic beverages for religious purposes is not governed by those laws. :):) So if you form a church and give away the "produce of the field" for simple donations, you skate the law and they can't touch you. It's never been challenged by the ATF because the Catholic Church has so many vineyards for their religious ceremonies etc.

Sure, so start a church, but the point still stands. You even said it; until 1979 you could be arrested for making your own alcoholic beverages.

Today the regulation guidelines still apply. If you get caught making more you get fined and your hand slapped.

Do it twice and you get a 30 jail time and bigger fine.

Yep! don't want to cut into those profits of the big companies.

No doubt this is George W. Bush's fault.

I didn't realize that microbreweries were illegal until so recently.

I still need to review the complete history of it, but basically it was so highly regulated that small breweries couldn't compete. Also you were taxed on alcohol you made for personal and family consumption, so obviously trial batches would be costly.

What's really shocking is that it was Jimmy Carter that deregulated it.

Very interesting. Thank you.

The government screws everything it is involved in up. Especially these days.

If you think Americans, and especially Texans, can't make good beer you obviously haven't tried the dozen or so varieties of Shiner. Every drop of Shiner is brewed in Shiner and always has been...and i've never had a better beer...and i've tried hundreds...maybe thousands...



And i didn't even mention St. Arnolds or the Blanco Brewing Company!

Another person who didn't bother to read the post huh?

I never said that Americans couldn't make good beer. I said that craft beer was not allowed to be produced in America from the time of the prohibition until 1979 when the market was deregulated and so only a few massive breweries were producing all the beer without any competition to drive innovation.

greedy profit seeking corporations..

Then how do you explain that after the market was deregulated in 1979 we started to see a massive demand for craft beer that has since produced some of the top quality beer in the world?

not from those big corporations
craft beer is the old and now the new...

Except until 1979 craft beer was almost impossible to produce and sell thanks to regulations. That's my point.

It is the idea of mass producing beer that ruins it.

Except mass produced beer was the only beer that was allowed to be produced until 1979 because of regulation. Hell forget reading the article itself, didn't anyone even read the intro? Regulation destroyed most breweries and the market was cornered by a few major produces because of it.

It doesn't matter about regulation. You obviously have never sat around drinking an ale in Europe.. Then you would understand what I was talking about.

I've had good beer from many parts of the world; and now thanks to craft breweries, we have some of the best beer in the world right here in the United States.

And therefore I rest my original case on the matter. An individually brewed micro being better than the mass produced swill coming out of Busch...

When I was in Australia, American beer was called cow piss. And not without reason. I STILL can't stand Miller's.

the government DE-regulated the market which is what free market capitalists always want, like the banking industry and the airline industry.

How can one blame the government for DE-regulation?

Of course you didn't bother to read the link. The government regulated the industry and it resulted in only a few major produces. Micro-breweries and craft beer were not allowed. It was in 1979 when Carter DE-regulated the industry that craft beer started being produced.

By the way, the banking issues were also regulation problems. The government shoved itself into the market. http://politicoid.blogspot.co...

you want to be able to blame the government either way

Well in both cases it was government interference that resulted in the issues. Explain why really good craft beer started to become common after the market was deregulated.

I don't explain it. just drink it

Well you should work on explaining it, otherwise one day we could be drinking piss poor beer again as our only option.

But the manufacture.

But when the government supports a few manufacturers and you have no competition that's what happens. Craft beer was not allowed for about 50 years.

http://politicoid.blogspot.co...

You are correct in this point.

Seriously. American beer has such a horrible reputation and it's not undeserved. Our major beer produces which were allowed to dominate the market thanks to regulations on the liquor industry produced horrible beer.

Only after the market was greatly deregulated did high quality beer start to become common in the United States.

http://politicoid.blogspot.co...

But we the people are making a comeback, be free drink local micro and artisan brews.

They don't know how to brew, that is a matter of private enterprises.

Except the government crushed the private enterprises that created competition; there was no such thing as a microbrewery under the government regulation. It was only after 1979 when regulation was removed that all the craft beers we have today started being produced.

There's a lot of American problems the government really is responsible for, but this one's a real stretch. Micro-breweries are popping up all over America, and many of them, including Samuel Adams right here in Massachusetts, make some damn fine beers. But don't expect to pick up a six pack for what you pay for Coors, or other bottled waters like it.

But who destroyed breweries in America? The government destroyed roughly 800 major breweries during the prohibition and another 400 - 500 during by regulation after the prohibition. Only the mega corporations could produce beer until 1979.