Anybody gone through Texas Licensing

[johnnymax]

The more I read about the requirements, fees and licenses, the more over whelmed I get :sad1:
What about not having malt on the winery's premesis?
If the winery is at my home in the country, does that mean I cannot homebrew in my garage?
I have an email off to the TABC and I am waiting on a responce.

 

[Oskaar]

Basically what it means is that when you license your meadery/winery you will have to define where it is and what the floorplan/property is. Under the law as I understand it, once the premises is defined, you may not bring any malt onto the premises. So if your garage is defined as your mead/winemaking premises, then, no, you may not brew beer within the garage since it is now legally defined as a meadery/winery.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

 

[johnnymax]

Thanks, I may have to build a building next to my home and insulate the hell out of it and just keep it 68F inside, or at least a big walk in cooler in it. I just got a refrigeration unit that was on a walk-in cooler from my wife's Florist. It kept the cooler at 34F
This building can be my Meadery. I am thinking 16' x 30' (or smaller and built so I can expand)
Man this is getting expensive and requiring a lot of work up front. :tard:
I guess I have to have the building before I can even apply? ???

 

[Oskaar]

Yup yup yup!

I've got a similar dilema. It gets butt hot here in So Cal and my de-facto MeadWorx is my 3 car garage with an A/C unit pumping in air to keep it cool. But, I have an outbuilding on my lot so I may just encase that sucker with a wooden shell (the building is galvanized and aluminum) and pop an A/C unit on it. I have electrical in it now and can run gas and water without too much of an issue, but I'd have to cut through slab to get to the plumbing so I'm not so sure that I want to go there.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[Angus]

Quick couple of questions on this:

Why can you not bring malt into a Winery/Meadery? How does having an alternate fermentable create a problem when making wine? And along the same lines, how do you then make a Braggot? Seems like Big Brother is overstepping his bounds again.

Angus

 

[Brad Dahlhofer]

Quick couple of questions on this:

Why can you not bring malt into a Winery/Meadery? How does having an alternate fermentable create a problem when making wine? And along the same lines, how do you then make a Braggot? Seems like Big Brother is overstepping his bounds again.

Angus

If you have a brewery license and a winery license you can have malt on premesis. Many micro-breweries now have wineery licenses so they can make theri own house wine. The reason for the two licenses has more to do with taxes than anything. Now when you start mixing malt and honey together, they don't know how to tax it. I've been trying to research how to make a braggot at B. Nektar for a while now. So far, the only one I know that's doing it (legally) is Mike Faul at Rabbits Foot Meadery. However, he brands his braggots unter the Red Branch Cider company. I still don't know why. Maybe I owe him a phone call.

 

[johnnymax]

MAN! I finally have my ducks in a row. I have my LLC, DBA's Tax Surety bond and I am ready to mail in ALL THE FREEKIN FORMS to the TTB.
Whewww....
If I have one mistake on the forms, from what I understand, they will mail it all back to me, to fix and send back.

It is taking me longer than I was wanting it to take, but if you are going to make mead you have to have patience.

 

[Brad Dahlhofer]

If I have one mistake on the forms, from what I understand, they will mail it all back to me, to fix and send back.

Yes, when they get around to it. It's a good idea to check with them if you haven't heard anything after about 2 months. Sometimes things seem to disappear into the black void of bureaucracy.

Good luck to you. We started this process in the beginning of 2007 and are just about to bottle our first batch. It's a long road, but commitment pays off. Just keep an eye on your cash-flow.


Brad