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Making Moonshine At Home Is On The Rise. But It's Still Illegal
NPR ^ | 27 Jan 2014 | Alastair Bland

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 ...


TOPICS: Food; Hobbies; Society
KEYWORDS: alcohol; atf; dea; drugwar; fuel; homegrown; legalpot; moonshine; revenuers; revenuetickets; still; taxcheats; whitelightning
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1 posted on 01/27/2014 2:03:55 PM PST by Theoria
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To: Theoria

Bammy don’t follow the rulz, why should anyone else?


2 posted on 01/27/2014 2:05:45 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Theoria
Sure. I would definitely pay $3 for a small bottle of water to keep it in a barrel. 😊
3 posted on 01/27/2014 2:06:34 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Theoria

Popcorn Sutton would be proud.


4 posted on 01/27/2014 2:07:59 PM PST by rdl6989
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To: Jonty30

I thought Everclear was grain alcohol!


5 posted on 01/27/2014 2:08:56 PM PST by Renegade
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To: Renegade

It could be that too.


6 posted on 01/27/2014 2:10:43 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Theoria
By what authority?

I mean I look at this and it seems to say that the federal government cannot legitimately do so:

AMENDMENT XXI
Section 1.
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Where the 18th says:
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.

7 posted on 01/27/2014 2:13:01 PM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: Theoria

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.


8 posted on 01/27/2014 2:17:01 PM PST by nascarnation (I'm hiring Jack Palladino to investigate Baraq's golf scores.)
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To: Theoria

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?


9 posted on 01/27/2014 2:18:02 PM PST by IronJack
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To: rdl6989
In Honor Of Popcorn Sutton
10 posted on 01/27/2014 2:19:15 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true .. I have no proof .. but they're true.)
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To: IronJack

that falls under a different cat. but, ya can run a still, but, uncle sam has to get his cut.


11 posted on 01/27/2014 2:19:23 PM PST by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: Theoria

The libertarian movement has been obsessed with legalizing this and fighting tobacco laws, for 40 years........ haven’t they?


12 posted on 01/27/2014 2:20:35 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: Jonty30
Everclear ≠ Evian
13 posted on 01/27/2014 2:22:18 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: ansel12

Don’t know. don’t know why it was ever ‘illegal’.


14 posted on 01/27/2014 2:22:46 PM PST by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: OneWingedShark

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.


15 posted on 01/27/2014 2:24:11 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: Theoria

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.


16 posted on 01/27/2014 2:24:14 PM PST by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
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To: Theoria

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 ;’)


17 posted on 01/27/2014 2:24:15 PM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: IronJack

It’s legal to make 100 gallons of beer or wine for personal use.


18 posted on 01/27/2014 2:24:50 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: OneWingedShark

>>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”.


19 posted on 01/27/2014 2:27:53 PM PST by vikingd00d (nulla seruitus turpior est quam uoluntaria -- Seneca)
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To: Renegade

Corn is a cereal grain.

CC


20 posted on 01/27/2014 2:27:56 PM PST by Celtic Conservative (tease not the dragon for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup)
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