Moonshine, auto-brewery syndrome, and 11,040 bottles of champagne

West Virginia has legalized home distilling which essentially makes moonshine legal in the state. Doug Smith, the WV State Delegate who sponsored the legislation, has a vision of the state capitalizing on moonshine and home distilling in the same way that Napa Valley has done with wine and Kentucky has done with bourbon. However, home distilling is still illegal at the federal level so where is this headed?

In beer news, Anchor Brewing Company has announced that an announcement about their future ownership will be made soon. In more beer news Ballast Point, a once storied, iconic, and groundbreaking craft brewery is closing their main facility and switching all production to contract brewing. It’s quite the fall from grace for a brewery that was sold to Constellation in 2015 for a billion dollars.

And finally in beer news, because we couldn’t resist, auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) or gut fermentation syndrome (GFS) is a legitimate medical condition and the reason why a Belgian man was arrested for drunk driving multiple times in the last few years.

In wine news, let them drink champagne. French President Emmanual Macron ordered 11,040 bottles of champagne for official government use and considering how the French government is currently running a $154 billion deficit (which is cute from a US perspective), the French public hasn’t reacted well to this news.

In retail/bar news, a restaurant in France is giving patrons a free bottle of wine if they leave their phones with the receptionist. This is one trend that we hope catches on.

In cannabis news, will this be the year of the THC cocktail?

And finally, Mike and Bret wrote a book. Get your copy here: https://www.missinglinck.com/product-page/tanked-in-cincinnati

Mike have you ever made your own
moonshine no
well we’re going to talk about making
your own moonshine a little bit later
but first the booze news in beer news we
had a couple quick stories for you first
anchor Mike has there been an update on
anchor Brewing anchor Brewing has
announced that they’re going to actually
announce who’s won the bed fantastic
yeah in a couple more weeks we’ll have
the announcement but this precludes the
announcement of the announcement I’m
sure in may we will find out soon how
much saporo has screwed up America’s
oldest craft beer and speaking of
screwing up beers our next beer story is
about Ballas Point Ballas Point has
decided to close their headquarter
Brewing uh their headquarter Brewery
meaning that they no longer produce any
beer at any of their original breweries
but they’re keeping like a couple
restaurants open so Ballas point after
selling to Constellation for a billion
dollars has now completed its
metamorphosis into a pile of garbage so
there were definitely Ballas point was
like the Pinnacle of that they were the
wet dream of so many Brewers not long
ago where they built this crap Brewery
They had like several you know they did
this IPA that was like very grapefruity
as hell grapefruit IPA was fantastic
interesting for the the time it was a
solid beer it blew my mind for the time
it was very Innovative yeah it was
Innovative uh at the moment and what
constellation failed to learn though is
that it’s not that hard to just add
grapefruit to any
IPA yeah uh so a billion dollars they
were they’re out of uh San Diego so they
sold the constellation for a billion
didn’t do well constellation sold it to
a venture capital group for 100 million
and now it’s been now it’s been DWI
million to nothing so it’s just slowly
just well whatever in Belgian beer news
a Belgian Brewer got pulled over and
arrested for drunk driving three
different times and he filed that he was
innocent in the courts and the courts
found him innocent any idea
why it’s Belgium and you’re expected to
drink
dry that’s a great guess Auto Brewery
syndrome his
Brewery anything he ate or drank that
had sugar in it was getting fermented
into alcohol the man lived in a state of
constant drunkenness didn’t even realize
it I have read about that condition in
the past it yeah it’s crazy like your
own body just makes you drunk
yes like I’ve heard people say like oh
that’ be fantastic that would be awful
yeah you’re in a constant state of being
hung over and being drunk at the same
time oh my God I choose when to get
drunk and I still highly regret you know
most of those decisions but at least I
have some autonomy over it I mean God
damn that sounds awful can you cure it
yeah my understanding is you can cure it
you basically got to Nuke your
microbiome get it restarted and then
you’re good to go there’s basically
yeast living in his gut that’s turning
things into alcohol that’s crazy is that
his uh lawyer uh said quote it is an
unfortunate coincidence that that this
man also happens to work in a brewery so
you imagine when he’s gotten pulled over
and he’s like I swear I haven’t been
drinking I just work in a brewery and I
smell like beer but I swear to God I’m
not drunk but he wasn’t here’s the thing
Belgian law has to be different from
American law for sure because one of the
things that I I really hate about
American DUI laws is like you know if
you refuse a breath lizer test which is
completely unreliable mhm if you refuse
it then you’re automatically guilty of
something you’re automatically guilty of
a crime for refusing to participate in a
[ __ ] flawed
science and then you know you’re either
um past their arbitrary limit or you’re
not there’s no intent involved so that
guy I mean the Auto Brewer thing he
wasn’t not drunk right right yeah he was
absolutely drunk so he wasn’t intending
to be drunk correct
in America that wouldn’t matter mhm I
don’t give a [ __ ] while you’re drunk
you’re drunk right
guilty in wine news a wine maker in
France has been arrested for
years for years of stealing wine from
his employer and selling it for oneth
the price on the black market in order
to fund his cocaine habit does it sound
familiar are you I mean I’ve only
dabbled in Coke
Brad and when I steal from my employer I
sell [ __ ] for at least 50% of the value
so no I don’t know what you mean so this
was some rookie ass [ __ ] is what you’re
saying yes absolutely but how do you I
mean how long was he doing this you
years years they only got
him the his employer said quote I don’t
know how far back this goes my records
for inventory aren’t quite clear but
it’s been years however the government
only went back as far as 9 months they
collected N9 months of data before they
arrested him so two three four years a
long time I would file the defense of
what the [ __ ] did you expect run your
business better I mean at that point in
time it’s just part of his salary yeah
just get the man his cocaine and let him
make good wine they’re selling it for
$50 a bottle I mean like come on he’s
obviously doing a good job I take a
pallet of urban artifact beer on a
weekly basis but uh I’ve never noticed
no more than a pallet Eric and I split
it it’s fine we still 50% you know
that’s good I’ll cut you in if I start
taking too in other French wine news
president macron has ordered one mcon
thank you that’s good he has ordered
11,040 bottles of just champagne for
government official use for the next is
going to be drunk as hell 550,000
worth of champagne yeah to
quote put on airs in order to entertain
foreign dignitaries it’s important for
the French to keep up appearances mhm
even though they’re running out a
negative
$154 billion a year deficit oh that’s
pathetic oh they decided what’s our
deficit yeah more than that
however the uh proletariat of France are
in fact in arms up in arms about the
whole situation it’s a lot of money to
spend on champagne to just
Entertain You know what I say to those
people I say to them let them eat
cake that’s good I’m going to steal that
where’ you learn that it’s worked out
it’s worked out well in the
past champag
mcon this is champagne and beers [ __ ] b
ordered a bunch of
it in retail and bar news Al we got a
French theme going today Al
Doo there’s a French
restaurant I I have 100% guarantee
that’s not how it’s
pronounced there is a French restaurant
that is giving anybody who comes in and
decides to leave their phone with
receptionist their mobile phone a free
bottle of wine oh God bless those people
90% of the people that go in take them
up on that offer Mike I take it you love
the
idea I a love the idea B 10% of their
customers are [ __ ] [ __ ] can you
imagine going out with a group in like
one person in your group’s like no I’m
keeping my phone no I absolutely I
absolutely need Tik Tok I’ll die without
it for the next hour and a half you dick
it’s a brilliant move I bet they’re
getting a lot of more people coming in
and I bet the people that are there are
actually more engaged and having fun we
are starting to learn I think as a
global
Society what these phones have done to
us to our engagement our mentality that
they’ve made us [ __ ]
miserable so we need a we need a new
temperance movement but not on alcohol
on [ __ ] in the internet and social
social media constant connectedness you
know that actually is really related to
some local news too there’s a very
expensive private school in Cincinnati
called Cincinnati Country Day in this
past school year they outlawed cell
phones on school grounds you had to
either leave them at home or check them
in when you got there overwhelmingly
positive success even the students loved
the fact that they were banned there was
no more social media harassing there’s
no more being on your phone all the
goddamn time there’s no more keeping up
with Jones’s crap that’s already hard
enough to deal with High School
overwhelming success so like those two
things combined I mean to me that’s
proved positive of I think this is a
good schools there are a lot of schools
have started phasing out phones and all
of it all of it is positive you know
there is not one school out there that
says oh it turned out to be a terrible
idea yeah you can always get a hold of
your kid too if they’re at school you
call the school and you say hey I need
to get my [ __ ] kid there’s no
emergency that needs instant contact and
it’s like smoking in bars
like like if you ask kids uh oh will it
be okay if the school takes your phone
away oh no my God I would start a
revolution I would burn things I was
pissed when they took cigarettes out of
bars until they took cigarettes out of
bars and then it was [ __ ] amazing
yeah oh my God that bar is not going to
last the week in business and then they
learned oh no actually like everybody
even smirkus wind up digging it like
yeah you don’t go home just wreaking
like smoke and your eyes burning it’s
nice uh in other retail bar news the UK
has decided to announce that they are
the world’s greatest cocktail
manufacturers and makers they have the
best mixologists in the whole world
because they’re not tied to tradition so
they are free to innovate and as a
result they make the best cocktails
University of Kentucky oh no the United
Kingdom
what what England yes yep have you
[ __ ] heard of American
exceptionalism we fought a revolution
and we won [ __ ] and we’ll
continue to make we we invented the
cocktail I don’t care whether our
cocktails are better or not I want to
see a rider cup of cocktails America
versus the EU let’s put our money on the
bar and let’s [ __ ] go let’s put this
stuff on television let’s have a battle
get the douchiest mixologist from Europe
get the douchiest mixologist from
America my God head to head and let’s
[ __ ] fight yeah you know we both went
to OU and there is this big like rivalry
between OU and Miami sports rivalry
there’s also like a legit cultural
rivalry Miami is this kind of you know
richer [ __ ] snti school in U’s us um
I always thought that like the sports
rivalry who cares we will outdrink you
any given day you know let’s let’s let’s
go to where it counts oh you will out
drink Miami any given day so yeah I
think it’s same thing Miami is more
concerned with how much foam egg foam
you can put on top of your cocktail
we’re more more concerned with how much
[ __ ] beer foam can I fit in this
glass right exactly in a new segment
we’re going to be be launching the
Cannabis News uh cannabis is growing
it’s impossible to ignore talked about
it a couple times now the Zeitgeist is
changing and we’re going to be part of
is [ __ ] talking about it and
integrating it into well basically
intoxication culture which is really
what Bruce guys is all about I think
it’s what I used to hear of his wacky
weed I might have even indulged I don’t
know once or twice well now you can too
uh this has we’re going to start off
with br’s permission you can get high
now God damn
it we’re going to start this off with a
softball segment for Cannabis News by
officially declaring this the summer of
the THC
beverage thanks to the government
agricultural Farm Bill hemp is a legal
product and hemp is defined as having 3%
of or less of THC by dry weight now the
key there is dry weight now what that
means is is on a weight by weight basis
it has to have less than 3% THC for a
beverage which is very heavy compared to
a dried plant 3% is 100 mg per 12 O so
in a 12 ooun can federally legal you can
have 100 migr serving of THC in that
beverage and as a result over the past
three year more than three years that’s
has been going on since like 2018 over
the past 6 years people are finally
realizing that you can do this you
cannot get arrested you cannot get your
business shut down and they’re starting
to pop up everywhere so be on the
lookout for THC beverages we’ve launched
our own here at Urban artifact called
Costo but more to the point this is
going to be a huge sea change in
drinking culture and the great thing
about these hemp beverages is that
they’re not wreck they’re regulated
under the hemp Bill the farm bill law
which means they can be anywhere which
means they can be at bars they can be at
restaurants this is heralding to me a
huge change preschools sure corner
stores heralding a change in how we
consume and get intoxicated you can go
to a bar and if you don’t want to drink
alcohol you can still get a little bit
messed up and I think that’s pretty
awesome and I think this is going to be
the year that is entering the mainstream
Consciousness because I feel like it’s
been flying under the radar for a while
and this hemp stuff’s really going to
take off I’m good with it I think that
we should probably just have a
rational legal system uh policy you know
as opposed to loopholes and puzzles
loopholes and puzzles um but
whatever well anyway we’ll be getting a
little more detailed every week with our
cannabis circular uh News segment um but
for now is that nice little softball
have fun be in the lookout for THC hemp
beverages they’re going to be popping up
literally everywhere uh except for a
couple states that have gotone ahead of
that and wanted to ban them on a
state-by-state basis you know what you
else you should be on the lookout for
Brett no
what this book
hey we wrote that uh Brett and I just
wrote this book it is very uh since
night
Centric because that’s what it you know
it’s history press we asked to do it but
the stories that we covered in this book
I think are really Universal about the
beer industry like the ways that people
uh got rich or almost got rich and
didn’t you know we had this Brewery here
in Greater Cincinnati called oldenberg
in the late ‘ 80s it was really
revolutionary almost completely
forgotten by everybody now at this point
but my God they be became this close
they were that close close to like
taking over America The Brew Pub chain
Brew Pub was like their thing well
before it was a thing from any buddy and
they just grew a little bit well read
the book and you’ll find out what
happened yeah we interviewed beer Dave
who was the very first uh beer buyer in
the United States we part of the Jim
Cook interview of Boston beers in this
book y so yeah the second biggest crap
Brewery in the country we also
interviewed another giant crap Brey in
the country Ryan guys regardless check
it all out link below you can buy our
book it’s you can get it on Amazon but
please check that link out all the money
then goes directly to the authors rather
than to [ __ ] Jeff Bezos who we all
know doesn’t need a godamn single scent
more now our main story Mike moonshine
this is shocking I honestly cannot
believe it what the hell happened in
West
Virginia
well you’re going to have to never that
down specifically moonshine what the
hell happened in West Virginia what
happened in West Virginia is that on the
last day of West Virginia’s legislature
meeting for the year they passed a bill
legalizing moonshine in West
Virginia now what’s really interesting
about this is that we covered a few
weeks ago the fact that there are people
in Texas that have sued the federal
government challenging the
constitutionality of the federal law
that
criminalizes home distilling
on a national basis can we go back like
30 seconds legalizing moonshine
legalizing distilling that is that like
that is insane when I when I read that I
could not believe it it’s been illegal
since the Civil War to make your own
hard Spirits at home like that is crazy
like unbending the government has been
about that people have like this is a
shocking thing there are it turns out
there’s a bunch of states that actually
have statutes that say
home distilling is legal when it’s legal
on a federal
basis uh and Ohio is one of them Ohio’s
one of them Michigan’s one of them so
they’re basically bills that are ready
to go into law if the feds change their
mind yeah or they’re there Andor they’re
there but they’re being interpreted as
you know subsidiary to the Federal which
every state law is so what West Virginia
seems to have done is that they’re
taking distilling
on the marijuana Journey so like right
now we have all these states over half
of the states have
legalized marijuana THC not even
loopholes any of that you know we can
sell pot we can sell it at
dispensaries but to give you a little
review of American government a state
cannot contradict federal
law so the feds could shut down any of
these pot distilleries around the
country if they wanted to you know the
states just started relying on the fact
that the feds don’t have the will to do
that Colorado was the first to legalize
weed and whatever the hell year it was I
it’s been a long time ago now West
Virginia appears to be poised to be the
Colorado of Home distilling that’s crazy
West Virginia is not in the Forefront of
basically anything well no and um they
to like this bottle right here was given
to me by a student in my beer class this
semester looks very innocuous till you
open it and you smell it and uh we’re
not going to drink much of it but here’s
an example here’s some Ohio
moonshine
um oh it smells like uh a lighter fluid
yes smells like pure gasoline oh my God
so I know a lot of people think home
distilling is dangerous and there’s
issues with making yourself go L and
blowing yourself up and stuff but there
is yeah and no more risk than like
getting into carpentry or Woodworking
and you can lose some fingers or you
know drive a nail through your hand you
mostly have to be a real idiot to um
yeah to to really make it I mean
dangerous beyond the point that clearly
much of this would get you really
hammered you know it’s not I think it’s
fine I think what’s interesting in West
Virginia is that the guy that sponsored
the legislation he’s some a republican
uh in the West Virginia state house
called uh Doug Smith and you know this
guy has a vision of West Virginia
becoming the place that cracks open the
legalization of Home moonshine so it’s
still not like it’s different from
marijuana and the fact that they’re not
opening up you know something you can
already get a liquor license and make
the shine basically but what he thinks
Is that West Virginia will become the
state that Embraces like whole moonshine
competitions you know they can U plan
events around it they can Market it as
part of their Heritage which it becomes
a cultural thinges is it’s just the
underground culture it is and I mean I
don’t know pros and cons of that but
there’s a lot of things about
Appalachian culture that gets made fun
of that I think U is legit I mean
there’s a whole there is a whole sort of
independent Revolt in
moonshine that that is part of broader
Appalachia so I don’t know there’s ways
that it’s it’s funny there’s ways that I
think it’s moderately irresponsible and
there’s ways that I think that it’s cool
so I’m not sure what to think about it
but it’s it is definitely an intriguing
thing that West Virginia is taking this
step
I’m also not sure what to think about
the fact that it started with weed but
we are now in a point where we have
States saying these federal laws are so
godamn unrealistic that we’re just going
to ignore them and I don’t think that’s
necessarily a healthy thing for the way
our government works but uh no it’s
that’s a very strange precedent uh on a
personal level I love it I would love to
get my own personal still up and running
legally and and do all that I don’t have
one that works right now but I would
love to however on a on a broader level
I agree with you from from a federal
standpoint that shows there’s a lot of
distrust going back and forth that
there’s a lot of not things working
together and it’s not what you want yeah
um but I do love the fact that this
moonshine can be celebrated it can be
done it can be a hobby and that’s great
I mean NASCAR for God’s sakes is because
of moonshine right and all that all that
should be celebrated by West Virginia I
think this great you’re right appach
there is a there is a legit cultural
thing to it a history to it and yeah I
don’t know overall I think it’s pretty
cool yeah and Appalachia just get gets
enough [ __ ] talking it it can it should
be celebrated I I agree once you get
past the kerosene smell mhm this
actually has it’s like apple moonshine
yeah it is well made apple cinnamon it’s
actually pretty smooth it just got a
real strong Aroma Student’s name was Jim
is good guy I’m not going to give you
his last name because this is illegal
but uh thanks Jim cheers in uh stock
news constellation is set to own 25 to
30% of the Beer Market in the coming
years now what does that mean for you
means if you are a dabbler in the stock
market and you have money to spend now
is a great time to buy constellation
this is coming off the backs of them as
a family Modello overtaking Budweiser
what does that mean means Modell Modell
Negra is taking over Budweiser Bud Light
Bud Platinum all that Modell as a whole
is outselling Budweiser as a whole and
that’s wild so it also means they have
August Bush I fourth tied up in the
basement like uh the [ __ ] and Pulp
[Laughter]
Fiction by countsy deserves
it in other stock news Boston beer we
talked about them the other week however
there is a strong rumor that I’ve been
hearing in the marketplace that says
that they were moving their cannabis
hemp beverage brand into the US in 2025
it’s called teapot they’re poised to
really blow up the whole situation
presently Canada only on on yeah Canada
only Canada uh and when it launches in
the US they might be one of the biggest
companies to launch a hemp based
beverage brand nationally there could be
some huge UPS upshot to their stock much
like there was when uh Seltzer was the
rage so you’re going to do it the same
way guys are doing it with this like
Farm Bill loophole yes that is by all
accounts it is not changing the farm
bill loophole I know there’s a couple
[ __ ] [ __ ] conservative [ __ ]
Republicans who are like we need to
close this loophole but it ain’t
happening the [ __ ] bull to [ __ ]
[ __ ] cats out of the
bag this moonshine’s going right to my
head in that news I would say buy us a
plan on patreon which we’re on however
buy us a copy of of our book check out
below check us out on bruce.com buy for
yourself you don’t need to give it back
to us yeah wait
what Brett’s drunk you people have a
good week we love you cheers