So as they wait for their legislative lobbying to bear fruit, they gather monthly for illicit tasting sessions, where they pass around up to a dozen home brews to critique. At the moment, they're sampling a murky-looking concoction billed as an Imperial Stout and served from a 2-liter bottle that once contained Diet Mountain Dew.
"It's clean, it's nice, but it's not big or bold enough," says Todd Swearingen, 41.
Adam Arnett, 42, takes a small sip from a shot glass, savoring the flavors before swallowing. "Doesn't punch you in the face," he says. They pour the rest of the stout into a large plastic garbage can and move on to the next offering.
Oberman's basement, lit by a bare bulb dangling from the ceiling insulation, is loud and warm; not surprisingly, it smells like a brewery. Jim Trollinger, 46, a big man with a wild beard, takes in the scene with a grin. "This is all an exercise in civil disobedience," he says proudly.
In fact, Alabama authorities rarely prosecute anyone for home-brewing, or for possessing beer with more than 6% alcohol content.
By law, residents may enjoy such beers only if they order them shipped from an out-of-state vendor to a government warehouse, run by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. They can pick up the shipment after paying taxes and certifying that the beers are exclusively for their personal use.
Few drinkers trouble with that bureaucracy.
Brew crusaders, banded together in a group called Free the Hops, admit to driving up to four hours each way on beer runs to Tennessee or Georgia. Some bring back as much as $500 worth of booze every few months. On this evening, Oberman plans to raffle a dozen smuggled beers, including a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot ale, a Belgian Lambic infused with raspberries and a microbrew, Nugget Nectar.
"What's done in a private home often goes undiscovered," says John Richardson, assistant administrator of the alcohol control board. "You can imagine how confusing it is trying to enforce this."
California does not impose special restrictions on beer sales. But across the South, many states have long tried to keep out high-alcohol beer. Those laws were overturned in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia in recent years. This year, campaigns are underway here and in West Virginia and Mississippi.
