Homebrew at a Wedding, how do I approach this?

[Polymath]

Good Afternoon All,

2 months ago I got down on one knee and asked my lady an important question, she was silly enough to say yes to marrying me. We are now looking at wedding venues in the UK, and we want to have a homebrew bar.

Thankfully we have a few interesting venues to look at. We only have 30 guests for the wedding, we wanted small and intimate. I'm looking at brewing 2 kegs of beer (2 X 40 pints) and maybe one for Cider (Who knows?).

The real question I have, is how to approach this subject with potential venues. Should I be telling them that I intend on serving homebrew at the wedding. Struggled to find mush on this subject. Does anyone have any knowledge in this area?

 

[HopWroester]

I'd start by asking if you can provide your own drinks.

But it will depend on the venue, if they sell booze they'll be unlikely to let you bring your own with out a fee. My wedding venue told me it was a H&S problem providing home brew to guests.

However I was a best man in the summer and brewed beer for it as the venue didn't provide any catering/bar services.

I suggest you brew a session beer, 5% max.....it can get messy with a 7% IPA all day/night!

Good luck with it!

 

[Godsdog]

Brew the ale second ferment bung it into cornies and force carb,that way it will travel without clouding and spoiling,that's how I'd do it,depends if you have cornies though I suppose

 

[Spoon]

I think the licencing laws mean you can't serve home-brew on a licenced premises as it's not had duty paid. As long as there's
a) no licence
b) no money changing hands for the beer

Then you're OK. I think strictly you can't even give homebrew away it has to be for personal consumption, just varying degrees of "everyone does it" and "you'll never get prosecuted".

Went to a wedding in the summer which must have had 50-100 2l bottles of home brewed ale. It's cheap and keeps, and you DO NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF BEER! Kegs may have been nicer/better, but you will need a fair few (and CO2, regulators, someone sober to change them over etc if they're corny's whereas anyone can pour a pint from a big bottle).

 

[Godsdog]

I think the licencing laws mean you can't serve home-brew on a licenced premises as it's not had duty paid. As long as there's
a) no licence
b) no money changing hands for the beer

Then you're OK. I think strictly you can't even give homebrew away it has to be for personal consumption, just varying degrees of "everyone does it" and "you'll never get prosecuted".

Went to a wedding in the summer which must have had 50-100 2l bottles of home brewed ale. It's cheap and keeps, and you DO NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF BEER! Kegs may have been nicer/better, but you will need a fair few (and CO2, regulators, someone sober to change them over etc if they're corny's whereas anyone can pour a pint from a big bottle).

I'd challenge you on that last pint,everyone can pour a pint from a big bottle,not with homebrew as there's at least a little sediment.lol

 

[Spoon]

Probably true, but it's their own beer their ruining (rather than drunkenly turning up the CO2 'to get the dregs out', or connecting the up the wrong way around, breaking taps etc. I work in H&S, it helps to have a low threshold when it comes to estimating the stupidest person in a room :-p

 

[Halfacrem]

Congratulations on your forthcoming Marriage! All the best to you :thumb:

I guess serving your own beer would be dependent on Venue. I would imagine a Hotel looking to make some money on Bar revenues would say no, but others might be more open.

The very first question I would ask myself though is, am I confident enough I can brew decent enough beer or cider to please my guests? If the answer is yes and the venue is open to it, go forrit!