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Wick's Home Brew

Here is where I will post stuff about beer. Home brew, craft beer, or just beer info in general. Nothing fancy, just beer talk. So drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Letter to My Representatives about the MS Gourmet Beer Bill

To get us started off the four bills that are being introduced in this years Legislative session are:

Gourmet Beer Bills
Senate Bill 2064: Beer; increase the amount of alcohol that it may contain form 5% by weight to 8% by weight.
Author: Senator David Baria

House bill 744: Beer; increase by 3% the amount of alcohol that it may contain.
Author: Representative Bobby Moak

Homebrewing Bills
Senate Bill 2117: Homemade beer; authorize making of homemade beer for domestic or household uses.
Author: Senator David Baria
House Bill 401: Homemade beer; authorize making of homemade beer for domestic or household uses.
Author: Representative Bobby Moak

The following was my letter to my House Representative, I just edited the bill numbers and titles to my Senator.

This email to ask for your support on the two beer bills that are being presented. The first one is the to increase the allowed percentage of alcohol that a beer may contain for it to be sold in our state. This is a great way to increase revenue in our state without raising taxes. Currently for me and many of my friends we travel out of state to enjoy quality craft beer. These beers are a craft to be enjoyed and not for drunkenness. The bill is House Bill 744: Beer; increase by 3% the amount of alcohol that it may contain.

The second bill is to allow craft beer enthusiasts to create their own beer in their homes for personal consumption and to be shared with friends and family. There is already a law in place allowing Mississippians to make their own wine for personal consumption, now we need to make this concrete saying it is okay for Mississippians to make their own beer for personal consumption. The bill for this effort is, House Bill 401: Homemake beer; authorize making of homemade beef for domestic or household uses.

Again I want to reiterate these bills are not being put in place to help the citizens of Mississippi abuse alcohol. Craft beer is on huge upward movement. Take a look at our neighboring states. Alabama introduced a bill very similar to House Bill 744 two years ago, and already four craft breweries have opened in that time. How many jobs is this creating for Alabama? How much revenue in taxes are being collected from these business opening? This is nothing but positive for their state. Let’s do our best to keep OUR money in OUR state.

I would appreciate your support in these two bills.

Thank you for your time.

Responses I have received:
From my Senator: “You are welcome and thank you for your input”

Where does my Senator stand? Yay or Nay? Another email to him is in the works. Isn’t he suppose to be representing me? Ok if we have different opinions, let me know where you stand. Is he taking my input into consideration? Does he not even want to even worry about these bills?

I have not heard back from my House Repsentative yet. Once I do, I will update this post.

As always, if you have any questions or comments drop me an email at wick at wickshomebrew dot com