Illegal winery busted at Alabama town’s sewage plant

The Associated Press ^ | December 18, 2020

[Oldeconomybuyer]

RAINSVILLE, Ala. - Sheriff’s officials say they’ve busted an illegal winery that was operating at a municipal sewage plant in a small north Alabama town.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it received an anonymous tip about an alcohol operation at a municipal building in the town of Rainsville on Thursday. Investigators then uncovered what’s described as a large illegal winery inside the Rainsville Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Photos released by investigators show glass containers, buckets, a fermenting rack and other equipment often used by people who make wine at home.

The agency says officers seized a lot of illegal alcohol, and arrests are expected. The town of about 5,100 people is 100 miles northeast of Birmingham.

“I want to thank the mayor for his cooperation and willingness to allow law enforcement to do our job and shut something like this down,” Sheriff Nick Welden said in a statement. “This is definitely one of the biggest operations we’ve seen in our county and possibly our state.”

It’s legal to make limited amounts of wine at home in Alabama, but it’s illegal to have more than 15 gallons of homemade wine or beer at a time.

[posterchild]

Government employees work hard to make their job more productive and they just get grief for it.

[cuban leaf]

Probably producing a fine Australian table wine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cozw088w44Q

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

“ In Georgia, the only wine I know of being made locally was Muscatel.”

Obviously you don’t know much about Georgia. There are several fine wineries in the North Georgia Mountains.

A DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO NORTH GEORGIA WINERIES & VINEYARDS

[Dr. Sivana]

Obviously you don’t know much about Georgia. There are several fine wineries in the North Georgia Mountains.

I guess I don't. I only lived there for four years, and in Columbus (south west). I didn't see these wines in the local liquor stores, no one I worked with drank them, restaurants didn't offer them. Not mentioned at the Republican conventions in Athens and Augusta.

Then again, I'm not really a wine drinker, and just didn't move in the right circles. Thanks for the info.

[SgtHooper]

LOL!!

[Drew68]

I always root for the criminals in these types of stories.

[livius]

It’s pretty new...all they had for years was muscadine, which is even sweeter than moscatel!

[21twelve]

Doggone it! That was almost what I was going to post!

I was at a U.S. government site and the guy watching the dials had some website of cars and other stuff up on his laptop every time I walked by. I mentioned it to my client.

“Oh yeah - that’s Bob. As long as the equipment operates at the proper levels he’s “doing his job”. Of course an alarm will sound, and it very rarely happens. He’s into buying and selling all sorts of stuff off the internet - might as well I guess.”