Ask a group of people who make beer or wine at home how they feel about no longer needing a state permit to do so, and at least a few might answer with a question of their own:

"I needed to get a permit?"

Little-noticed in the stack of last-minute bills that Gov. Chris Christie signed in the beginning of January was one that eliminated the requirement of a $15 permit for the home production of beer and wine for personal consumption.

Several thousand people in the state got the permits each year, but many more would not. It was not as if the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control searched homes to enforce the law, so many people chose to ignore it.

"I think it's unnecessary to put a citizen through that process," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, a primary sponsor of the law.

"Most people didn't know about it, and if they did know about it, they said, ‘I'm not doing that,'" said Jeff Linkous, of Little Egg Harbor Township, who writes about the state's craft beer industry on his website, BeerStainedLetter.com.