Friday, June 7, 1996

Recycler Gives Away Dated Brew, But State Unamused

By Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - It seemed too good to be true: thousands of cases of slightly out-of-date bottled beer - free.

One answer to the Texas drought? A way to recycle glass bottles?

It turned into serious business when the owner of a San Marcos recycling company landed in jail.

"I put out the word. The beer is free, but you have to bring the bottles back. We started with over 60,000 beers and gave 51,000 away to the community," said Kyle Hahn, who opened his recycling business last year.

He said he advised visitors to the Green Man Recycling Center the brew was not for sale and that they should inspect the contents for spoilage.

"People offered money, but I would not accept it except as a donation to the recycling center," he told the San Antonio Express-News.

But a Hays County Sheriff's Office undercover agent said he bought two cases of imported stout from the center last week.

After the purchase, Hahn was charged Saturday with two misdemeanor counts related to the unlicensed sale of alcohol and released on $4,000 bond. Police also confiscated 6,909 bottles of dated beer and ale.

"He just said it was a good price, and he had to get it all out of there. I bought two cases for $6," said John McGuire, a captain in the narcotics division. "He's just a typical bootlegger."
Hahn intends to fight the charges.

"As far as I know, the undercover guy was the only one who insisted on paying. I told him it was free. Take a whole pickup load. But he set the money down on a case," said Hahn, 25.

He said Shiner of Austin, a beer distributor now out of business, asked for his help earlier this year in getting rid of 5,000 cases of old beer on which about $7,000 in state taxes had been paid.

Hahn said he conceived of a community effort to recycle the glass, metal, cardboard and even the beer, which would be donated to farmers to dump on dry fields. But the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission did not agree.

The TABC must supervise any beer destruction efforts in which the owner is seeking a tax refund. The agency supervised shipment of the canned beer to a recycler in Comal County who recovered the aluminum. But the bottles were a different matter.

Hahn said he gave away the beer after Shiner of Austin agreed to forfeit any tax recovery just to get rid of it.

"If this thing goes to court, I'll have 200 to 300 witnesses to whom I explained it was against the law to sell alcohol - that the beer was free," he said.