Did you know… any adult may legally produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale as long as you do not exceed 200 gallons per calendar year if there are two or more adults residing in the household, or 100 gallons per calendar year if there is only one adult residing in the household? Home beer brewing is a fascinating hobby that many law abiding citizens enjoy. The selling of equipment, supplies, ingredients, kits and instruction to home brewers is an industry that provides many jobs and substantial tax revenues.
Did you know… any adult may legally produce wine, without payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale as long as you do not exceed 200 gallons per calendar year if there are two or more adults residing in the household, or 100 gallons per calendar year if there is only one adult residing in the household? Home wine production is a fascinating hobby that many law abiding citizens enjoy. The selling of equipment, supplies, ingredients, kits and instruction to home vintners is an industry that provides many jobs and substantial tax revenues.
Did you know… unlike wine and beer, Federal law does not permit the production of distilled spirits for personal or family use? Even though all you are doing is boiling down the very beer or wine you legally produced so that there is less water and such in it. In order to produce distilled spirits for beverage use or even industrial purposes, you must first qualify (and register – a long and expensive process) with TTB under the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act in the event you are producing or bottling distilled spirits for a beverage use. Spirit distillation is a fascinating process. Home spirit distillation COULD be a fascinating hobby that many law abiding citizens would love enjoy IF they were free to legally do so. It is simply an extension of the brewing or winemaking hobbies. The selling of equipment, supplies, ingredients, kits and instruction to home distillers is an industry that COULD provide many jobs and substantial tax revenues.
To some, this little fact may seem trivial… whether a person is allowed to distill alcohol or not. But, America, as our founding fathers designed it is dying bit by bit, because we, the citizens, kept quiet on issue after issue as our federal government became larger, more controlling, more powerful, more infringing, and more invasive on our day-to-day lives. We sat quiet saying to ourselves, “The least of my worries is whether or not people can…” insert any issue here!!
We all need to start pressuring our state and federal legislators to come up with some more practical laws concerning the home/hobby production of distilled spirits for personal use.
It makes no sense why the TTB and BATFE cannot be as logical with the laws governing personal use spirit manufacture as they are for beer and wine production for personal use. Ethyl alcohol is ethyl alcohol! It matters not what drink it is in, it is the same and so are the effects. It makes no logical sense to be “allowed” to make beer and wine yet not be “allowed” to distill (legally) either – not for sale but for private, personal consumption, just like beer and wine.
We each need to, very politely, very respectfully and very often, begin petitioning our legislators for sensible change to these very draconian, prohibition era laws.
http://www.ttb.gov/main_pages/may-i-produce-spirits.shtml
By Jerry Agan from The Homestead Survival
MOONSHINE 