Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Discussion and plans for legalizing our hobby.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
tcowdrey
Novice
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:42 am
Location: King William County, Virginia

Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by tcowdrey »

Legalizing Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later.

On March 19, 2014 I posted an introduction to the Hobby Distillers Association that thus far has had 19042 Views. I hoped to accomplish several things at that time: 1) make all the HD fans aware of HDA, 2) explain that our only goal was to legalize hobby distilling in the US– we are not in the business of selling Tee-shirts, and 3) ask everyone who is interested in our cause to join the HDA. 549 of you have replied to the post and quite frankly, the initial replies were not very positive since many did not know or trust me. One year later, we are still alive and working to get our hobby legalized with more than 1400 members. As posted previously, membership only costs $30.00 a year and can be anonymous if you choose. For lots of information and membership options go to http://www.hobbydistillersassociation.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. The HDA is set up as a not for profit run organization and all of the funds collected are being used to pay our lobbyist in DC. Everyone on the leadership committee is a volunteer and is not reimbursed for personal expenses.

One thing we have learned is that in DC, timing is everything. It was practically impossible to talk or meet with any representatives last fall because they were all out politicking for the mid-term elections. Senator Rand Paul showed some initial interest and then backed off. The encounter with his office allowed us to get a professionally written draft bill that we hope is close to what will be introduced. Senator Cornyn of Texas has also shown interest in sponsoring our bill – if you live in Texas or know someone who does, send him a note saying that you support the efforts of the HDA and ask that he sponsor the bill to legalize hobby distilling.

We met with the top Administrator of the TTB, John Manfreda, and 3 of his administrative staff. Their job is to protect the revenue but with the Sequester cutting staff in all government agencies, they have to pick their investigations carefully. Mr. Manfreda was given a copy of our draft bill and we all felt that our proposal was well received. He laughed when he said that the alcohol fuel laws were more for people fuel than anything else. We asked about the raids in Florida last March and while we did not get a direct answer, it was my feeling that the ones who were arrested had been selling illegal moonshine and the TTB added 40 some hobbyists to the raid to see what kind of reaction they would get. The hobbyist’s names and addresses were obviously taken from the list of customer’s names sent in by still suppliers. I believe all of the raids were in the Jacksonville area.

We also met with the Asst. Secy. of Tax Policy at the Department of the Treasury. Again the intent was to clear our proposal with the policy makers to get ahead of the curve if and when members of Congress have questions. As with the TTB, our proposal was not met with any objections.

There seem to be two primary concerns about home distilling from congressional members and government staffers/employees. These are methanol poisoning and house fires resulting in injury or death. We found two studies concerning residential fires done in New Zealand where home distilling has been legal for 19 years. The result was a very insignificant 0.14% of all house fires were caused by home distilling. We all know that our booze is safer than what you buy at the local liquor store; however the stories about methanol poisoning got their roots during prohibition. In the 1920s, bootleggers added methanol, antifreeze, and all sorts of poisons to their products to increase profits. Another source of methanol poisoning was the federal government itself. In a sick effort to stop people from drinking any alcohol they could find, the feds required the manufacturers of denatured commercial alcohol to add huge amounts of methanol to their products – the idea was if they put poison in the commercial alcohol, nobody would drink it – Wrong. During Christmas season of 1926 (I think), over 800 people died in New York City alone from drinking commercial alcohol that had been methanol poisoned by their government.

The purpose of this long post is to ask one more time for your help. Contact your Senators and district Congressmen/Women. Tell them that you support our legislative efforts to legalize home distilling for personal consumption. There is plenty of information on our website to use as lead-ins when discussing this topic. Believe it or not, time is of the essence. Hobby distilling is not a hot button issue for Congress and our small bill will most likely have to ride on another bill’s coattails. We need a sponsor in the Senate and the House and you can help. In 17 or 18 weeks Congress will leave DC for their summer recess and will be out of their offices for about 6 weeks after which the only thing they will care about is the 2016 elections (or re-elections as the case may be). Someone on this forum has an idea we can use to get Congressional attention. Someone out there knows someone who knows someone who can help. Our lobbyist, Keith Nelson, is contacting congressional offices on a regular basis so if you know a legislator he should call, let us know. Questions can be addressed to our website. You are welcome to email or call me. The HDA is the real deal – no other group has come as far or made as much of an effort as we have. Your support is welcome. Thanks for reading.
Tom Cowdrey :D
tocowdrey3@gmail.com
804-296-6194
Stainless dude
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 593
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:33 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest US

Re: Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by Stainless dude »

I agree Rock, and thank you Tom for your efforts. Would be great to see the membership number double or triple :thumbup:
tcowdrey
Novice
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:42 am
Location: King William County, Virginia

Re: Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by tcowdrey »

Thanks for you support guys. For those who joined HDA last year, now is the time to renew your membership. There are numerous membership options - go to our website to decide which membership is right for you. Tom
HookLine
retired
Posts: 5628
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:38 am
Location: OzLand

Re: Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by HookLine »

Nice work. :thumbup:
There seem to be two primary concerns about home distilling from congressional members and government staffers/employees. These are methanol poisoning and house fires resulting in injury or death. We found two studies concerning residential fires done in New Zealand where home distilling has been legal for 19 years. The result was a very insignificant 0.14% of all house fires were caused by home distilling.
I will bet an increase of 0.14% is well within margin of error and statistically meaningless.

The alleged risk from methanol poisoning should be easy enough to deal with, it just requires some basic facts about fermentation, methanol, and distilling being explained to the politicians. Get a good independent expert, maybe somebody from the American Distilling Institute could help out here.

Basically the politicians are making sure they cover their arses. They don't want to blamed for anybody dying from legal home stilling gone wrong. Fair enough.
Be safe.
Be discreet.
And have fun.
tcowdrey
Novice
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:42 am
Location: King William County, Virginia

Re: Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by tcowdrey »

Hookline,
Sometimes I don't express myself as well as I should. We all know that methanol boils at 154 F or so degrees so it comes off (if there is any in the wash to begin with) way before alcohol does, however very few of the outside world (including our politicians) understand that. It is our job to tell the world that Methanol gets in alcoholic spirits if and only if it is added to the distillate. I added my comments about methanol in the above post to let people know that many of our elected officials still think there is credence to the old stories that originated 80 years ago and have no relevance in today's hobby distillation.
See the data below.

Sample Methanol Level
Fresh and canned fruit juices 11-80 mg/L
Orange and grapefruit juices 12–640 mg/L
Beer 6-27 mg/L
Wines 96-329 mg/L
Distilled spirits 16-220 mg/L
Bourbon 55 mg/L
50% grain alcohol 1 mg/L
Concentrations permitted in brandies in the USA, Canada, and Italy 6,000-7,000 mg/L
Beans 1.5-7.9 mg/kg
Split peas 3.6 mg/kg
Lentils 4.4 mg/kg
Carbonated beverages ~56 mg/L

Methanol Levels in Foods and Beverages
Source: NIH Publication No. 03-4478, September 2003

Thanks for your comments.

Tom :D
Hobby Distiller's Association
RandyMarshCT
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 718
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:46 am
Location: Hopkinton, RI

Re: Legalize Hobby Distilling in the US - One Year Later

Post by RandyMarshCT »

Great post, Tom. I've renewed with a life membership.

I have nothing but the utmost confidence that our organization will be successful. After basically getting the green light from the TTB as well as the Department of Treasury, the only thing standing in our way to legalization is getting our bill presented and voted on in the Senate and House. The more citizens the lawmakers have chirping in their ears, the more inclined they will be to support our efforts.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to remind these politicians that this could very well spur huge growth in the craft distilling business arena, just the way it did for craft brewing. Lawmakers all pretend that they care about creating jobs... here's an opportunity for them to prove it.

Thank you very much to everyone who has joined, or who have gotten others to join. Our membership numbers help convince these lawmakers that we're not just a small group... that there are thousands and thousands of people all over the country that love this hobby.

Cheers!
Life member, representative, and proud supporter of the Hobby Distiller's Association.

http://www.hobbydistillersassociation.org
Post Reply