My friend Jim H. submits the following.
A quote from an interview with Professor Steve Bamforth; UC Davis in Scientific American dated May 2007:
"Until very recently, wasn't water dangerous to drink? Is that part of why wine and beer were the drinks of choice throughout the last 8,000 years or so?
Bamforth: Yeah! Beer is certainly not hospitable for the growth of microorganisms. You know, we don’t have coli scares in beer. Pathogens will not grow in beer and the beer—of course during production it's boiled—beer contains hops which has got antimicrobial components, and so, you know, ales and beers over the years have been safer to drink rather than the water because of these reasons."
Of course, from the very start, the Floyd County Health Department's very last consideration has been factual in this pathogenic context. Since June 14, the issue primarily has been one of hidebound bureaucratic control, and secondarily, enhanced future revenues once the precedent of control has been accepted.
Of course, NABC does not accept it.
As I've indicated on several occasions, we're content to fight the cold war for the foreseeable future, and wait for the relevant state agencies to reach what (to us) is the inevitable conclusion that only the Alcohol & Tobacco Commission has statutory control over beer pouring. When this decision is made, I promise to don my best Martin Luther duds and tape it to Mark Seabrook's exurban door frame.
But the other side of the coin -- the health department's juvenile on-line defamation -- still remains very much in play. That one isn't going away any time soon, and commissioner Seabrook might as well ring the insurance company with the good news ... after his latest "render unto Caesar" tantrum, and before the Camm trial bills start coming due.
Harvest Homecoming food vendors, take note: You'll soon have to pay $20 per day to sell food. The health department says beer is food, but that beer pourers don't have to pay the fee. If beer is food, isn't food also beer? So, exactly why are YOU paying for these temporary food permits when beer pourers are not?
And, for anyone contemplating a beer event: If the fine for not having a temporary food serving permit is half the cost of the permit, and it there is no charge for the permit, then what's the fine?
Think carefully, because after all, careful thinking puts you five steps ahead of the Floyd County Health Department.
Right, Mark?
I keep telling my wife I go to BSB for the food. I cannot let her read this.
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