Tucked into a flurry of late-session voting Dec. 15 in the New Jersey Legislature was a measure cutting home brewers and winemakers a break.

No longer, under the bill awaiting Gov. Chris Christie's signature, would they need to buy a $20 annual permit.

Chris Sloan, a home brewer from Mansfield Township, admitted he was caught off guard when he learned of the requirement shortly after starting his hobby in 2000.

The process wasn't hard: Print out the form online and send it with a check to the

.

gained approval 71-7 on Dec. 5 in the state Assembly, with one abstention, and 38-0 Dec. 15 in the Senate, with two members not voting. It does away with the permit requirement for home beer- and wine-making of up to 200 gallons per year for personal use.

Pennsylvania has no such permit requirement.

Sloan, 43, says he brews about five, 25-gallon batches a year and enjoys them in a bar he built in his basement, featuring six carbon-dioxide-operated taps and one English-style cask ale beer engine. Opting to keg his beer rather than bottle, he had on tap earlier this month brown ale, Belgian wit, Belgian Abbey ale, a fermented Rogue yeast brew and a pale ale in the cask.

He buys what he needs from

in Bethlehem.

Joshua Gaul, a sales associate there, said getting started making wine costs about $110 for equipment and $60 to $100 for enough ingredients for 30 bottles of wine.

Beer-making, which commands the bulk of the Main Street Commons store, requires an initial investment of about $65 for a starter kit, $40 for a 5-gallon kettle -- though a stock pot will work -- and ingredient packs that range from $30 to $60 for about two cases' worth.

UPDATE:

Christie's office announced Jan. 9 he had signed into law bill A4012/S3147, eliminating the $20 permit requirement for home production of wine and beer for personal use.

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HOME DELIVERY OPTIONS

New Jersey lawmakers on Dec. 15 also approved a measure allowing small wineries to sell directly to retailers, and to ship small amounts of wine to consumers by mail.

passed 23-13 and is up for a vote in the Assembly on voting sessions scheduled Thursday and Jan. 9.

Only wineries that produce a maximum of 250,000 gallons a year would be able to sell and ship directly under the bill. All farm wineries -- where grapes are grown and fermented -- would be eligible.

Objectors to the bill say that if wine is allowed to be shipped to customers elsewhere, it would have to be allowed to be shipped from vineyards in California and elsewhere to New Jersey.

In Pennsylvania, the Liquor Control Board last month kicked off its own home-shipping program for wine and liquor. Shipping fees will include a charge of $14 for an order of between one and three bottles and an additional dollar for each bottle beyond that.

From staff and wire reports