Home Distillation Is Now Legal in the US — What Does It Really Mean?

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A U.S. appeals court has overturned a 158-year-old ban on home distilleries, potentially opening the door to a new category of whiskey, gins, vodkas and rums distilled from the comfort of your neighbor’s garage.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit ruled that the law was an “unnecessary” and unconstitutional overreach of Congress’ authority. Passed in 1868 in an attempt to thwart tax evasion, the statute was enforced by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau with fines up to $10,000 and up to five years imprisonment.

The Hobby Distillers Association took the issue to court. Four of the organization’s 1,300 members argued that the law was a prohibition masquerading as a tax measure, setting arbitrary restrictions on distillation for otherwise qualified professionals. One of the plaintiffs was a certified bourbon steward intent on producing whiskey in his backyard; another previously distilled alcohol for fuel in his garage, and now wants to experiment with an apple-pie-vodka recipe.

According to the organization, government officials not only enforced the law, but proactively threatened it. One of the plaintiffs claimed to have received a letter from the TTB, warning of a fine up to $500,000 after the agency believed he had purchased distillation equipment.

A three-judge panel in New Orleans ruled that the purpose of a tax is to raise revenue for the government — not to issue a defacto ban on activities deemed unsavory by the state. Though taxes can act as a form of limited regulation (i.e., discouraging tobacco, sugary drinks), the court found that the home distilling law went several steps too far.

“By purporting to ban activity without a plain connection to the exercise of Congress’s taxation power, Congress has essentially—and ‘improperly’—invaded the reserved police and regulatory power of the states,” the judges wrote.

The government argued that the law discouraged tax evasion, saying home distillers can easily conceal a spirit’s strength (“and thus avoid a proper tax rate”) or potentially conceal a distilling operation altogether. The US Court of Appeals was unswayed.

The judges continued,  “Under the government’s logic, Congress may criminalize nearly any at-home conduct only because it has the possibility of concealing taxable activity. Home-based businesses may be forbidden. Remote work may be deemed a crime.”

What Does It Mean?

Though the reversal is a watershed moment for the home distilling movement, it doesn’t mean that anyone can order equipment and begin producing and selling spirits from their living room. Federal law still mandates that distilled spirits be produced in a permitted facility.

Individuals may, however, seek a federal permit from the TTB for any at-home operation, follow all federal regulations and pay applicable excise taxes.

“This is a landmark step—but not the finish line,” the Hobby Distillers Association said in a statement. “The Hobby Distillers Association will continue working to bring hobby distilling out of the shadows and secure the same legal standing that homebrewers and winemakers enjoy — both federally and in every state. We’ve come further than ever before. But our job is just beginning.”