In St. Louis, there is a long tradition of making beer. For St. Louis brewers and fans, there is a Heritage Festival to celebrate the beer of the city. Unfortunately, this year, the homebrewers will have to sit out. Even though they’ve given away samples of their beer at past festivals, the city has now determined that it is illegal. Why? Because they charge admission to the festival. You can click the above link for more details about similar battles in other states.  The workaround for this is, evidently, to have a separate festival where there is no admission fee. How does that make sense? Letting everyone in to taste free beer is somehow safer?

Chatter on homebrew forums and Twitter indicated that a free event for the brewers would take place sometime next month.

St. Louis Brews Secretary Tim Cochran, who brewed 5 gallons each of pale and blonde ale, said such an event would be a welcome “consolation prize.” But the main goal, he said, would be for homebrewers to regain their spot at Heritage Festival next year.

“All the clubs work hard to showcase our talents and hobby,” Cochran said. “This is considered a premier event to do just that. Time and time again a comment is made that the homebrew beers are every bit as good as or better than the professional-brewed beers.

“It sounds like we have some work to do in getting an old, outdated law changed. I certainly hope things can get corrected so the homebrewers can return to the festival.”

Good luck with that. In the meantime, I will be lamenting another way in which the government stymies small businesses and the free market.

Though it’s rare, sometimes states and municipalities do review old laws and get them overturned.  The state of Wisconsin is seeking to repeal an outdated law regarding butter vs. margarine.  I am a big proponent of butter over margarine (because it’s natural), but, as per usual, I do not believe alternatives to butter should be outlawed.  They say that the law is “silly, antiquated, and anti-free market.”  I agree. But, since Wisconsin is such a dairy state, they will continue to offer butter in prisons even if this passes.  Whew.

For fun, read this article on butter vs. margarine.  I’m sure you will be able to find a ton of articles that say the opposite of this…but this is why I eat butter and not margarine (for the record).

In Missouri, the Department of Agriculture considers it illegal for a small pig farmer to feed his pigs organic vegetables from his land.  What is the world coming to?  The big farms get to use all kinds of steroids and things on the pigs, but this guy can’t get a permit to feed his pigs vegetables.