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Posted on 09/06/2013 7:05:42 PM PDT by bamahead
Long before vineyards became agriculture du-jour in Virginia, Mike Bowles planted grapevines in 1977, and he claims he's Albemarle's first farm winery operator. Thirty years later, he wanted to be a pioneer again and hop on the craft-distillery trend to make the Italian spirit grappa from chardonnay grape leftovers. Instead, he's earned a more dubious distinction as possibly the first person to get busted while applying for a federal distillery license. Under Virginia's Alcoholic Beverage Control regs, that could cost him his license to make wine at all.
Bowles insists he was trying to comply with the hefty volume of federal and state regulations that date from the end of Prohibition, and says he had no idea the eight-ounce sample bottle sitting on his desk when ABC agents came in would lead to a felony charge that could jeopardize his mom-and-pop business.
Moonshiners, he points out, already know how to distill liquor, but the veteran winemaker did not ... And the federal application required that he provide a step-by-step process.
His son, who was going to be in charge of making grappa for the winery, ordered a still off the Internet, and the sample he made and gave Bowles put the ex-Marine officer in trouble with the law for the first time in his life.
"We're being forced out of business by these people," decries Bowles. "They're living in a 1934 bubble."
-----SNIP-----
According to the ABC narrative of the arrests, special agents Kevin Davis, who's famous locally for cracking down on art galleries serving wine at First Fridays in 2006, and Drew Covey, the agent who ended up on the hood of Elizabeth Daly's car in the Harris Teeter parking lot in April, went to Alex Bowles' home on March 14, 2012, where they found the incriminating distilling apparatus.
(Excerpt) Read more at readthehook.com ...
It’s a club of the distilleries. They don’t want every joe blow winemaker in on their party. This regulation is thoroughly antique by now and needs to be dashed.
We apparently need Whiskey Rebellion II to get rid of Feral Taxation of alkyhaul. How much do they get off of it anyway?
It’s more than antique, on the Federal side at least, it is unconstitutional. The only authority they have to regulate alcohol derives from an amendment that was repealed. Therefore, they no longer have any authority.
Bad craziness! I’m glad the guy ended up getting his license approved.
The other case mentioned in the story, the one of the college student named Elizabeth Daly, appears to have turned out well, too.
Still, neither case should have gotten this far. Way too much power and “hard charging” over minor issues. In the case of the coed, I can’t say I would have reacted any differently. If six armed men started walking up on me in a parking lot, I’d be pretty freaked about it, too. (Why it takes six big, strong armed ABC agents to question a 20 year old girl about her case of bottled water is beyond me, btw).
All this because the son was selling weed.
He's obviously just protecting and serving.
Maybe he needs to be convicted and forced to act as a barkeep for a few years.
Didn’t Bo and Luke Duke get these guys straightened out ~ 30 yr ago?
Most of the price of alcohol and tobacco is taxes.
Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with. ('Atlas Shrugged' 1957) {WMail Issue #23}
****Moonshiners, he points out, already know how to distill liquor, but the veteran winemaker did not ***
Mix some water with grain alcohol, put in some tobacco, Pepper, rattlesnake heads if you have them.
Oh wait! That’s Indian whiskey made back in the 1800s!
Now if I could just remember the recipe for “bitters”.
I was looking for the fraction of Federal taxes and fees that come from ethanol intended for human consumption.
“He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
One of them showed his shed (looked to be ~10x12) in back of the house, marked with a "B" for "bonded", about 4" of paperwork in binders, along with all all other requirements to make 60gal batches (iirc).
He also mentioned that BATF also had his shed's GPS coordinates...
All I could think of was a Predator drone.
Welcome to Fascist America, where everything you do is not just a crime, but a felony.
Right on!
That passage from Atlas Shrugged was the founding basis of the IRS.
Now, it’s the founding principle of Obamacare.
No matter what, the government can prove that you broke some law that you were not even aware of.
It’s called control via fear and it works very well in today’s Gestapo.
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