Consumerist.com Article

[tbone937]

Not, a must see, but kinda neat anyway.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/alcohol/why-can-you-brew-your-own-beer-but-not-moonshine-313730.php

Sorry if this doesn't follow forum protocol about "linking",
Anyone feel free to move or fix if necessary.

D

[BrewDog]

Nothing wrong with your post at all. Keep 'em coming.

[jesskidden]

Originally posted by tbone937
Not, a must see, but kinda neat anyway.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/alcohol/why-can-you-brew-your-own-beer-but-not-moonshine-313730.php


D

The "article" (which seems to be more just a link to the Slade article) is inaccurate when it claims: "...it was illegal under federal law to brew your own beer or wine until 1978...". Home winemaking was legalized upon Repeal- only homebrewing was legalized on a Federal level with that 1978 law.

The fact that home wine making was legal was what made most homebrewers feel that any legal issues would not hold up in court (fermentation is fermentation, after all) and why homebrewing supplies were openly advertised, bought and sold in most parts of the country before the law went into effect .

[HogieWan]

jesskidden, thanks for the clarification.

I've written to my senators about this. I can distill water. I can make beer or wine. However, I can't legally distill the beer or wine that I am legally allowed to make

[jesskidden]

Originally posted by HogieWan


I've written to my senators about this. I can distill water. I can make beer or wine. However, I can't legally distill the beer or wine that I am legally allowed to make

I don't know, if I wanted to distill, I would. (Toyed with it years ago when I lived on a farm in the Finger Lakes and was buying juice for wine from the local vineyards, but never got everything together. Have made applejack via the freezing method, which, as I understand it, is just as illegal).

I mean, I'm also not legally allowed to drive over 65 mph, cross the street in the middle of the block or on the "DON'T WALK" sign, buy beer out of state and bring it home, do my own electrical work without a permit, etc. I'd distill with the same attitude I had when I brewed before 1978. Granted, I might not talk to others about it as much, nor bring it to BYOB restaurants, as I did with homebrew....

Something tells that you're very unlikely to be busted for distilling for your own use and, if you are, it's unlikely the prosecutor would bother with your case, anyway. ("Let me get this straight- the guy was caught making two *quarts* of liquor?") True bootleggers *sell* the stuff, in relatively large quantities, and that's how they're depriving the government of tax money.

[HogieWan]

I understand that I won't be caught. I've sampled plenty of local homemade whiskey. I know the guys making it won't ever be prosecuted even if they were caught. I emailed my senators as an "out of principle" type thing