This is the most recent story I've written for Clawhammer Supply Moonshine Stills. This was the first in a series of stories I was commissioned to write regarding the legality of making "moonshine" in the United States.
Moonshine over Broadway
To many, the definition of moonshine has become clouded over the years, as murky as
the bathtub gin that washed through the lowest speakeasies in the roaring 20’s.
Centuries of changing law, morality and culture all play a role. We’ll sort
through the legislation and history in just a moment, but in the end, it’s
simple: if a distillery fails to give Uncle Sam a taste of the profits,
it’s making moonshine. If it pays up, it isn’t shine.
Feel otherwise? Consider this: have you ever bought a fifth of whiskey from your local liquor store, poured a shot for a friend and said, “Here, have some moonshine.”? Didn’t
think so. But don’t feel bad if you’ve been confused. Legal changes in recent
decades have so shaken up the underground that many formally illegal operations are wafting up from the mash of criminality to the light of legitimacy. A spiritual experience, if you will. The passing decades have layered many definitions on moonshine. Traditionally, the term evokes images of backwoods stills and bootleggers dodging government revenuers throughout the South.
In the late 1700’s, the government realized how simple it was to tax spirits, so it outlawed homebrewing. It remains illegal today. Two Federal agencies regulate the production and taxation of alcohol. The first is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Its mission is in part:
“…collect Federal excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ammunition and to assure compliance with Federal tobacco permitting and alcohol permitting, labeling, and marketing requirements to protect consumers.”
The second agency is The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The ATF’s law prohibiting homebrewing spirits reads:
“You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for
personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.”
In short, making any untaxed spirit on an unlicensed still remains illegal. Federal fines range from up to $10,000 and five years in prison for each offense, plus state penalties.
There has been a movement over the last few years for moonshiners to go legit as states repeal Prohibition era laws. Distilleries are popping up across the
states. Instead of the term “moonshiner,” some are calling themselves “urban moonshiners” or “home brewers” to wash away the negative connotations of the profession’s shady past.
The number of distilleries has increased from just 24 in 2001 to over 200 today with 20-30 opening every year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
This trend has become particularly evident in the state of New York. In 2007, New York passed the Farm Distillery Law which dramatically cut licensing fees and provided incentives to producers who purchased most of their raw materials in-state.
Distilleries like Harvest Spirits, Finger Lakes Distilling, and King’s County Distillery, New York’s first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition, are taking advantage of this movement. Small operations have the flexibility to build brands through greater controls and experimentation with raw materials that can be broken down into sugar like apples, strawberries and vanilla.
With many states’ coffers running dry, lawmakers are looking to new distilleries to pour in fresh revenue. That’s good news for whiskey connoisseurs.
While the incentive exists to go legit, some still tempt the law, bypassing official licensing and taxation. Penalties in the state of New York for the production, sale and distribution of illegal liquor are enforced.
Article 10 of New York code describes the special provisions relating to illicit alcoholic beverages and stills. Sections 151 through 155 of Article 10 denote
“illicit alcoholic beverage” to include “any alcohol or distilled spirits owned, manufactured, distributed, bought, sold, bottled, rectified, blended, treated,
fortified, mixed, processed, warehoused, possessed or transported on which any tax required to have been paid under any applicable federal law has not been paid.”
Punishments for the possession and sale of illicit alcoholic beverages are misdemeanors. Similarly, stills (and distilling apparatus) and any person who, being the owner, lessee, or occupant of any room knowingly permits the same to be used for the “manufacture, distribution, purchase, sale, bottling, rectifying, blending, treating, fortifying, mixing, processing, warehousing, transportation, distilling, or storage of an illicit alcoholic beverage, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.”
So the question needs to be asked. Is it illegal to produce moonshine in New York? Using the truest definition of the term moonshine, the answer is yes. As
distilleries open and pay their fees and taxes for their products they could drop “moonshine” from its labels. But, isn’t that where the layered meaning of
the word is morphing into. Small distilleries open and use the same process as the bygone moonshiners of the south. They don’t have to fear the long arm of the law and they’re left to operate as they see fit.
Fair warning to those in state that operate outside the lessened legal parameters. Limit who you tell about your operation, never sell, never give it away and
never transport. Laws are in place and whether it’s through fees and taxes or fines and jail time, Uncle Sam is looking for his cut.
To many, the definition of moonshine has become clouded over the years, as murky as
the bathtub gin that washed through the lowest speakeasies in the roaring 20’s.
Centuries of changing law, morality and culture all play a role. We’ll sort
through the legislation and history in just a moment, but in the end, it’s
simple: if a distillery fails to give Uncle Sam a taste of the profits,
it’s making moonshine. If it pays up, it isn’t shine.
Feel otherwise? Consider this: have you ever bought a fifth of whiskey from your local liquor store, poured a shot for a friend and said, “Here, have some moonshine.”? Didn’t
think so. But don’t feel bad if you’ve been confused. Legal changes in recent
decades have so shaken up the underground that many formally illegal operations are wafting up from the mash of criminality to the light of legitimacy. A spiritual experience, if you will. The passing decades have layered many definitions on moonshine. Traditionally, the term evokes images of backwoods stills and bootleggers dodging government revenuers throughout the South.
In the late 1700’s, the government realized how simple it was to tax spirits, so it outlawed homebrewing. It remains illegal today. Two Federal agencies regulate the production and taxation of alcohol. The first is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Its mission is in part:
“…collect Federal excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ammunition and to assure compliance with Federal tobacco permitting and alcohol permitting, labeling, and marketing requirements to protect consumers.”
The second agency is The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The ATF’s law prohibiting homebrewing spirits reads:
“You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for
personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.”
In short, making any untaxed spirit on an unlicensed still remains illegal. Federal fines range from up to $10,000 and five years in prison for each offense, plus state penalties.
There has been a movement over the last few years for moonshiners to go legit as states repeal Prohibition era laws. Distilleries are popping up across the
states. Instead of the term “moonshiner,” some are calling themselves “urban moonshiners” or “home brewers” to wash away the negative connotations of the profession’s shady past.
The number of distilleries has increased from just 24 in 2001 to over 200 today with 20-30 opening every year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
This trend has become particularly evident in the state of New York. In 2007, New York passed the Farm Distillery Law which dramatically cut licensing fees and provided incentives to producers who purchased most of their raw materials in-state.
Distilleries like Harvest Spirits, Finger Lakes Distilling, and King’s County Distillery, New York’s first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition, are taking advantage of this movement. Small operations have the flexibility to build brands through greater controls and experimentation with raw materials that can be broken down into sugar like apples, strawberries and vanilla.
With many states’ coffers running dry, lawmakers are looking to new distilleries to pour in fresh revenue. That’s good news for whiskey connoisseurs.
While the incentive exists to go legit, some still tempt the law, bypassing official licensing and taxation. Penalties in the state of New York for the production, sale and distribution of illegal liquor are enforced.
Article 10 of New York code describes the special provisions relating to illicit alcoholic beverages and stills. Sections 151 through 155 of Article 10 denote
“illicit alcoholic beverage” to include “any alcohol or distilled spirits owned, manufactured, distributed, bought, sold, bottled, rectified, blended, treated,
fortified, mixed, processed, warehoused, possessed or transported on which any tax required to have been paid under any applicable federal law has not been paid.”
Punishments for the possession and sale of illicit alcoholic beverages are misdemeanors. Similarly, stills (and distilling apparatus) and any person who, being the owner, lessee, or occupant of any room knowingly permits the same to be used for the “manufacture, distribution, purchase, sale, bottling, rectifying, blending, treating, fortifying, mixing, processing, warehousing, transportation, distilling, or storage of an illicit alcoholic beverage, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.”
So the question needs to be asked. Is it illegal to produce moonshine in New York? Using the truest definition of the term moonshine, the answer is yes. As
distilleries open and pay their fees and taxes for their products they could drop “moonshine” from its labels. But, isn’t that where the layered meaning of
the word is morphing into. Small distilleries open and use the same process as the bygone moonshiners of the south. They don’t have to fear the long arm of the law and they’re left to operate as they see fit.
Fair warning to those in state that operate outside the lessened legal parameters. Limit who you tell about your operation, never sell, never give it away and
never transport. Laws are in place and whether it’s through fees and taxes or fines and jail time, Uncle Sam is looking for his cut.