Brewing Beer or wine, why different than shine?

[MichaelNEIowa]

I saw a news report earlier today that a famous moonshiner was caught. I got to thinkin", why is making shine different in the eyes of the law than home brewing beer or making your own wine?

 

[Mike in Ohio]

I don't think you are allowed to sell your homemade beer or wine. The reason the whiskey is illegal is because it isn't taxed. If you a buy bottle of whiskey at the liquor store a very large part of the price is tax. Like everything else the goverment has got to have their cut of the booze business. Mike

 

[ericlb]

do you know who it was or where?

 

[MichaelNEIowa]

I know that the "revenuers" or Feds have always gone after moonshiners for the unpaid taxes.

So, is it legal to make moonshine if you make it for your own personal use (like beer or wine)?

I've never had any shine and have never made any myself--however, my great grandfather used to make his own back in the early 1900's.

 

[MichaelNEIowa]

Some guy named Popcorn Sutton in Tennesee.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/mar/14/law-gets-notorious-moonshiner-popcorn-sutton---aga/

 

[Pooh Bear]

You can buy a permit for making gasahol, which is mostly shine.
The cost of the permit is the tax you pay on the shine.
The cost is based on how much shine you expect to produce.
More production = higher cost of permit.
And the shine you produce has to be denatured.
Denatured just means making it poisonous to drink.


http://homedistiller.org/
Click Introduction>>Legality and scroll down for info.

Pooh Bear

 

[Anonymous-0]

Brewing a relatively small amount of beer or wine is legal for an individual's personal use without a license. I don't think that it is legal to distill any alcohol without a license.

On the other hand, I would guess that some people do a little bit of small scale distillation for personal use and get away with it. Just like some people grow a little Marijuana for personal use for years, and never have any problems with the law.

But in either case, I am guessing that those people are worrying about getting caught all the time, and to me, that worry would make it not worthwhile for me to do. They are probably always worried about someone telling the authorities that they are doing something that could get them in trouble.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the distillation and drug laws in the future. While I don't think there are that many people in prison for moonshining these days, there are many thousands imprisoned for posession/sales/manufacturing marijuana. It is costing our country many millions of dollars to incarcerate those people. I think our money could be spent better elsewhere.

Maybe there will be a relaxation of the distillation laws due to the push for ethanol fuels. And maybe the government will come to its senses and decriminalize marijuana to save a ton of money. Good luck!

 

[Anonymous-0]

There was a 200 gallon limit on wine making per year.Used to be a permit requirement but that was dropped.Ive made a few batches of beer, lot of work and attention to detail.Wine is easier.Dandelion blossems make a nice wine.Italian farmer I worked for had many barrels of home made wine in his cellar.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Making wine or beer at home is legal FOR YOUR OWN CONSUMPTION. It's illegal to sell your homebrew, and you're limited to 100 gallons of wine or 200 gallons of beer. The law apparently assumes that if making whiskey you intend to sell it.

Whiskey has always been heavily taxed, going back to the earliest days of the country. One of the first tests of the federal government was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791.

 

[ericlb]

thats a shame, ive seen a history channell show with popcorn in it, he's a likeable feller, this will make the third time the revenuers got him, but he's what 70 something now, as he said " if anybody has a question about the whiskey laws, they can ask me, because ive broke all of 'em" hes been making shine all his life, its supposed to be some of the best anywhere

 

[L.C.Gray]

True, taxation provides the control, but it's also for safety as well. Wine and beer are just fermented products while liquor is fermented and then distilled. If the distillation process isn't properly done one could end up blind, crazy or dead. Most moonshiners aren't rocket scientists, nor do they usually have any testing labs to maintain control on their processes. Most illegal stills are crude at best and are operated in minimally controlled enviroments and the process and product can vary widely from batch to batch.

I have actually tried some shine in the past, but after watching a couple of TV documentary shows about the history and current practices of distilling moonshine, I don't think I'd touch another drop.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Looks like we got another discussion about something that has nothing to do with tractors.
I might have to tell on you guys.

 

[Mark - IN.]

Don't be crawlin around in the back of my woods, or I'm liable to get excited and mistake you for one of them revenuers. I can't speak for anyone else, but I "share" it strictly for medicinal purposes, celebrations, and of course tractor and implement degreaser. Great stuff, so I'm told, except I can't call it "Great Stuff" cause it seems that someone else already has a patent on that name.