So while I’ve recently celebrated cooking up my first batch of homebrew, I picked up some troubling news via Stonch. Apparently, following the article on Free the Hops and homebrewing that appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control has come down on Scott Oberman.

His brazen attitude and full disclosure could cost him in the courtroom. It may not get to that point, but it’s still absolutely ludicrous nonetheless. The guy can’t go out and buy a beer over 6% abv, eliminating several excellent options from his reach, so he decides to brew his own and spread the beery goodness. Yet that makes him a criminal.

According to the article at Fermentarium, Anheuser-Busch and Southern Baptists have rallied together on this issue to block the efforts of Free the Hops, while stalled legislation to raise the state’s abv cap to 13.9% gathers dust. So they may slap Oberman with a $2,000 fine and a year in jail, but will most definitely put his homebrewing on hold. All this just for brewing up a batch of beer.