Mods: I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the beyond beer section. I decided here becuase it deals with making it at home, so... If it doesn't belong, OK to move. So I heard this morning on the radio that West Virginia has passed a law legalizing home distillation of spirits. Up to 5 gallons per person, 10 gallons per home with 2 or more adults. Per NPR (audio) So my question is, being that it's still illegal on a federal level, how does this work? And what is the chances of it becoming legal nationally, similar to home brewing and wine making? Edit: in reading a little further, I do see that there are a few other states that do allow stills as well, and some of those that either allow distillation of spirits for home use or are fuzzy on the use. Though obviously not for sale. So I suppose my question should be amended to: are these local laws loosening the home distillation a hint that it may become legal nationally, unless states, counties or cities/towns ban it explicitly?
Well, there's this from the TTB, the Federal agency in charge of alcoholic beveages: Penalties for Illegal Distilling but in reality if you keep within the WV limits, it seems unlikely the Feds would bother to prosecute you for the $13.50 - $27 in excise tax you're avoiding. I suppose legally it would be similar to states that legalized cannabis, which I'd guess other BAs might know about. The entire time homebrewing of beer was technically illegal, the BATF claimed they never prosecuted a homebrewer (some states apparently did and in one case a Judge ruled that only selling the homebrew was illegal) but the agency liked the law as it was because it helped them monitor illegal distillers because legally the fermented mash before distillation was "beer".
From what I understand, a lot of states allow a certain volume of distillation of spirits for use as fuel. I know Maryland does. Whether or not you choose to age your fuel in a barrel or flavor it is up to you. But who know what the future holds? State and Federal marijuana laws are very contradictory, so this my be similar. Pretty sure that so long as you don't sell it, you'll probably be ok (I'm not a lawyer).
Doing it a home may be more common than we all think if Amazon has it right. https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Alcoho...prefix=home+disillaion+ki,aps,730&sr=8-5&th=1 Probably some definition of legality is included in his book: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=home+dis...ome+disillation+,aps,905&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_2_18
Personally, I don't have the patience to wait years of aging it. I'll leave it to the big boys and buy it when needed.
