Law prohibiting home distillation unconstitutional?

[Donw]

US Circuit Court decision is interesting

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-appeals-court-declares-158-year-old-home-distilling-ban-unconstitutional-2026-04-10/

[jayjordan]

It’s decades past time that courts ruled to uphold the liberty of citizens and restrict the power of government over our lives.

[Steve R.]

I don't even drink alcohol anymore, and I'm hoping this dumb law gets overturned.

[58limited]

I need to assemble the still kit I bought a couple of years ago.

[LA Pork Butt]

I suspect that law was part of the prohibition movement. As for the movement it didn’t work very well.

[Sid P]

That law was an outrage in 1868, and remains one today. Congrats to the plaintiffs, judges, and American people.

[Oak Smoke]

I’m trying to figure out how to buy stock in a company that produces copper tubing.

[dpearce]

I’ve always wanted to setup a small distillery (thanks Moonshiners’ series). Course being in a neighborhood, probably won’t be able to, but good on them for challenging this!

[58limited]

I really wasn't kidding about having a still kit in my post above. As a home brewer I specialize in mead. When trying out new recipes, especially the ones from medieval times, the flavors are sometimes not to my liking. Rather than throw them out (they run 10%-14% alcohol), I've kept them in the hopes of salvaging the alcohol.

I finally ordered the kit as a scratch and dent special but I haven't found the time to assemble it yet.

For those interested in distilling this is the one I ordered. They haven't updated the site or maybe they haven't picked up on the recent court case so their website doesn't really say "for alcohol production" in their write ups.

https://www.clawhammersupply.com/collections/copper-stills/products/5-gallon-kit

Copper has come way down in price apparently. The scratch and dent unit was $279, normal price well over $300 back when I bought it. The 5 gallon kit is now $249.

[Oak Smoke]

The stories I recall about my people seem to point to the fact they didn’t care if it was illegal.

[58limited]

My ancestors allegedly came to Texas from Tennessee ahead of the law due to moonshining. My dad told me about going to visit back in the 1940s when he was a kid. They had to drive down a creek bed to get to their destination. To avoid being shot they had to hang a corn cob from the radiator.

[dpearce]

Oak Smoke I'm pretty sure you're right on the nose!

[Donw]

Confession. When I first read the article I posted my thought was this is interesting and some of our members might be interested. I also mentioned it on our family thread and got replies like “Uncle XXX would have loved this” and “This would have saved YYY his 18 months.” It had slipped my aging brain that, let’s say, certain branches of my family have had a familiarity with home distillation.

An old photo of a young Sarah visiting a relative’s house. And the van she is standing in front played a very important part.



How did I turnout so straight laced? 🤔

[dpearce]

Nothing but water in that jar Donw?

[Donw]

😂 Well dpearce , let’s just say there are some people in this world who like it more than other bottled waters.