Posted on 01/27/2014 2:03:55 PM PST by Theoria
Within days after each season premiere and season finale of the Discovery Channel's reality show "Moonshiners," they come — a small but perceptible wave of people — to purchase suspiciously large amounts of corn, sugar and hardy strains of fermenting yeast at Austin Homebrew Supply.
"We know what they're up to," says Chris Ellison, the manager of the Texas store.
That is, it's obvious they're planning to ferment the sugars from grain or fruit juice into alcohol, then distill the resulting mid-strength beverage into high-alcohol hooch.
Making spirits at home with plans to drink it is against federal law. Only with the right permits may a person make ethanol, either for use strictly as fuel, or as part of a commercial endeavor — like launching a craft spirits company, of which hundreds have opened nationwide in recent years.
Yet more and more people seem to be making home moonshine, according to sources.
"The interest level is growing rapidly," says Gary Robinson, owner of Moonshine Still Pro, a supplier in Missouri. Robinson sells stills — which are perfectly legal to own — from roughly three gallons in capacity to about 13. He ships to all states, but the core regions of his business are the traditional southeastern moonshine districts and the West Coast.
Mike Haney, owner of Hillbilly Stills in Barlow, Ky., says his sales of ethanol stills have doubled every year for three years since he opened. "Just that someone buys a still doesn't mean they're out to break the law," Haney points out. "A lot of people are making fuel."
Haney also sells miniature oak barrels — the sort used for aging bourbon and brandy.
"But they might be aging wine in them, or just buying everclear from a supermarket and putting that in the barrel," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Bammy don’t follow the rulz, why should anyone else?
Popcorn Sutton would be proud.
I thought Everclear was grain alcohol!
It could be that too.
I mean I look at this and it seems to say that the federal government cannot legitimately do so:
AMENDMENT XXIWhere the 18th says:
Section 1.
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
AMENDMENT XVIII
Section 1.
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2.
The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
No matter how much society breaks down, booze will be a viable commodity for trade.
I remember watching a story about how a teenage Jack Daniel, apprentice at a distillery whose owner was drafted into the army, made a small fortune selling to both sides of the conflict.
I thought it was illegal to manufacture moonshine to SELL (without the appropriate leech ... er, I mean ...government ... stamps). How do home beer brewers and winemakers get away with it?
that falls under a different cat. but, ya can run a still, but, uncle sam has to get his cut.
The libertarian movement has been obsessed with legalizing this and fighting tobacco laws, for 40 years........ haven’t they?
Don’t know. don’t know why it was ever ‘illegal’.
The article is poorly worded. It’s not illegal to make the stuff. It’s illegal to make it without required permits and/or not pay tax on it.
There was once a time long ago when I would have agreed moonshiners should be prosecuted for breaking the laws/avoiding the taxes.
No more, and never again. It is the principle.
I’ve been looking into the possibilities of a multipurpose still and have been checking out these folks: http://www.milehidistilling.com/
They make a mighty fine calendar too ;’)
It’s legal to make 100 gallons of beer or wine for personal use.
>>I mean I look at this and it seems to say that the federal government cannot legitimately do so:
It’s quaint that you still think the government has to follow rules.
As I understand it (and I could be wrong), the fed gov puts something like a $13.50 lien on every gallon of alcohol produced. So, to produce without the proper permits and tax filings and regulatory overhead is “tax evasion”.
Corn is a cereal grain.
CC
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