Alcohol Still Laws

• The U.S. government prohibits operation of privately owned alcohol stills.Distillery still image by zimous from Fotolia.com
  
  Laws regarding alcohol stills have existed since the founding of the United States. Ownership of an alcohol still that produces liquor for personal consumption is prohibited by federal statute, overseen by the Department of the Treasury and enforced by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The penalties for breaking federal alcohol laws are stiff, but neither fines nor incarceration have prevented thousands of illegal distilleries--often run by "moonshiners"-- from building and operating illicit stills.
  
  

Legal History

• The first excise tax levied in the United States was on distilled spirits. The revenue collected by this 1789 law was used to pay for the costs of the Revolutionary War. Citizens were irate over what they viewed as unfair taxation, and in 1794 farmers in southern Pennsylvania staged an armed revolt and refused to pay. President George Washington sent in troops to quell what was known as the "Whiskey Rebellion."
  
  

Legal Ownership

• It is legal to own a small alcohol still, as long as you don't make alcohol with it. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, alcohol stills are defined as devices that remove drinkable ethyl alcohol from pure alcohol, usually via a steam process. You can own an alcohol still if its cubic distilling capacity is less than a gallon, as such instruments are common in laboratories and water purifiers. You can also use a small still to extract essential oils from organic matter, but only if the extraction process does not utilize a solvent that results in an alcohol by-product.
  
  

Building Alcohol Stills

• It is legal to both build and sell an alcohol still, and the seller is not responsible if the buyer uses it for illegal purposes. An individual cannot build an alcohol still with the goal of personal consumption, but he can build an alcohol still if he uses it for some other purpose. Sellers must keep purchase records and turn them over to the government upon demand. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau states, "Under regulations in part 29 of title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, TTB has the right to require manufacturers of stills to give us the name and address of each customer. If we choose to impose this requirement, we inform the manufacturer of the stills by letter."
  
  

Penalties

• The penalties for making alcohol in an unregistered still begin at not more than $10,000, 5 years in jail, or both for a first offense. The government sometimes confiscates the property where the still is located.
  
  

Legal Alcohol Stills

• Alcohol stills may be owned and operated if you fill out the proper forms, keep copious records, pay high certification fees, provide a bond and comply with all tax requirements. Alcohol stills are also legal for those who wish to distill ethanol as a fuel, but permits, applications and extensive record keeping are mandatory. Only registered distilleries are permitted to legally make alcohol.
  
  

State Versus Federal Law

• Missouri is the only state whose laws expressly give residents the right to distill alcohol. Federal law is thought to supersede state law under the Interstate Commerce Clause, but the "Show Me State" continues to include freedom to operate an alcohol still within its statutes. Section 311.055 of the Missouri Revised Statues (August 28, 2009) reads:
  
  "No person at least twenty-one years of age shall be required to obtain a license to manufacture intoxicating liquor, as defined in section 311.020, for personal or family use. The aggregate amount of intoxicating liquor manufactured per household shall not exceed two hundred gallons per calendar year if there are two or more persons over the age of twenty-one years in such household, or one hundred gallons per calendar year if there is only one person over the age of twenty-one years in such household. (see References 4) "
  
  New Zealand and Peru are the only two countries outside the United States where home distillation is legal.