Sale of Chametz

Well we’ve reached Pesach and, of course, the dilemma that creates for all Jewish brewers. I could go the route of destroying all my chametz as we are instructed.

The problem with that is that beer really doesn’t burn so i would have to have one hell of a party…

I had eighteen bottles of whiskey in my cellar and was told by my wife to empty the contents of each and every bottle down the sink, or else… I said I would and proceeded with the unpleasant task.
I withdrew the cork from the first bottle and poured the contents down the sink with the exception of one glass, which I drank.
I then withdrew the cork from the second bottle and did likewise with it, with the exception of one glass, which I drank.
I then withdrew the cork from the third bottle and poured the whiskey down the sink which I drank.
I pulled the cork from the fourth bottle down the sink and poured the bottle down the glass, which I drank.
I pulled the bottle from the cork of the next and drank one sink out of it, and threw the rest down the glass.
I pulled the sink out of the next glass and poured the cork down the bottle. Then I corked the sink with the glass, bottled the drink and drank the pour.
When I had everything emptied, I steadied the house with one hand, counted the glasses, corks, bottles, and sinks with the other, which were twenty-nine, and as the houses came by I counted them again, and finally I had all the houses in one bottle, which I drank.
I’m not under that affluence of incohol as some tinkle peep I am. I’m not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don’t know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

From Uncle Elie’s Haggadah

But as early as the third century C.E., rabbinic law allowed a person who didn’t want to use up or throw out his chametz before Passover, to sell it to a non-Jew.  This was particularly important in in Poland in the late 16th century, many Jews worked in the liquor industry and used fermented grain to make their product. At Passover, they didn’t want to sell their grain permanently to a non-Jew because it was the source of their livelihood. So, Rabbi Joel Sirkes, a halachic authority of the time, began allowing people to sell their chametz to non-Jews without removing it from their own homes, and without selling it permanently.

To that end, I am formally selling my entire inventory of beer to Fort Mifflin, effective April 15 for three gold shekels (~$2300). I have a year’s worth of beer in process right now to support all the events I am doing this year and by allowing Fort Mifflin to be the owner of all these leavened products, I can continue to produce colonial beers and not have to start anew when the holiday ends. I have promised to buy this stock back from Fort Mifflin on 22 ניסאן when the holiday is over for the same 3 gold shekels. I hope they will sell it back.

Of course all the remaining chametz in my home is destined for the fire.

איר זאלט האבן א זיסער פסח — Ir zalt ​​habn a ziser fskh (May you have a sweet Pesach). And for all my goyish friends out there, Happy Easter.