Home Distiller

As we mentioned before, we had to cut the lobbyist loose due to a lack of outside funding. Since May, we have not even brought in half of one months' lobbyist charge, just to give an idea of the situation. This does not mean that we are sitting on our laurels. We are both working to round up more su...

The problem here is that every state's current laws are written a little differently, so different references would need to be made for a proposed bill in each state. That is quite an undertaking.

The federal bill was actually drafted by Leg. Counsel in the Senate Finance Committee.

Rick

Thank you so much for the work that you put into the video. It was well done, and will certainly help the cause!

Rick

To help the HDA build up funds we have created a store at Cafe Press (http://www.cafepress.com/hobbydistillersassociation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow). The profit will go into the HDA's fund so that we can hopefully get started back up with the l...

Ultimately, I think that the reason none of them participated was because they knew that they would reap just as many rewards if they left us to fund it as they would by helping to fund it. Why spend the money if someone else is willing to, I guess. I cannot speak for them, but that is the feeling t...

We only brought in $655 on the GoFundMe effort. Not very effective. I am also very disappointed. If I had not believed that we could see this through then I would not have invested so much to the effort. The HDA can still be active, but honestly, the lobbyist was the difference. He is how we got in ...

Back in January I mentioned that I would not be able to continue funding the majority of the HDA's costs (which are just the cost of the lobbyist). We have since brought in less than $4000, and shelled out $9000. None of the other producers / distributors are sharing in the cost, so all shortfall is...

We have reached out to a number of homebrew shops around the country, and most either ignore our contact or tell us that they have no interest in getting involved. I think that they are concerned about the legality, and want to avoid any involvement for fear of being targeted by the TTB. They surely...

I'm not a FB guy, but I will have one of the others reach out to them.

Not a generic response.

I'd laugh if I hadn't already thought of that myself.

We are also reaching out to everyone that we know in the media, hoping to get more attention on this. That would potentially help in two ways: 1- Get more people behind our cause, and make it more difficult to keep pushing our cause into the future. 2- Get more funding, which is desperately needed s...

Thank you, fortbuilder, for allowing the HDA to use your letter as an option for our members to copy and send to their representatives. In order to offer some options, we have posted three other letters on the HDA downloads page at http://www.hobbydistillersassociation.org/index.php/legalization/dow...

Just curious, You guys signing your real names? Is anyone else paranoid they'll be "looked into" because of their displayed intrests with the hobby. I can't imagine too many people making likker in my state (maine) so say for instance only 20-30 letters were written/emails sent to senator...

Scott Wallace, a representative in NH, contacted us today. He has introduced a bill to legalize hobby distilling in NH. For those of you from NH, please reach out to him to thank him. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2017&id=484&txtFormat=pdf&v=current" o...

Excellent letter, Fortbuilder! Brief, to the point, and states why the law, as it is, is simply not sensible.

Thank you very much, Rick. It all helps, and is much appreciated.

Unfortunately, we are not part of the text in the bill referenced above. Senate Finance says that they still want to see us in there in some way, but there are a couple of parties (with power and deep pockets) that do not. They have not been responsive to working with us to find a middle ground, but...

I have contacted our lobbyist to get more information.

I am hopeful that this is different. The story started because the reporter was interested in making her own whisky for fun. When she found out that it was illegal she was upset, and started digging into why. As part of that, she contacted us, and decided to do a story on it. How this turns out, I d...

Great news (literally!). A reporter at the ABC affiliate in Detroit (WXYZ) has finished a story on hobby distilling, and it is airing tonight on the 11 o'clock news. Here is a link to the commercial and teaser- http://www.wxyz.com/news/thursday-at-11-moonshine-is-booming" onclick="window.o...

We are pushing to get included on upcoming tax legislation, but it will greatly depend on financial support. Having covered most of the HDA's cost for the past 2.5 years, I have to pull back and at least see a reasonable portion paid by membership fees and donations. If we can keep the fight moving,...

MySQL had to be turned off for a minute while I made an update to another site. Everything is back on.

Thank you for your help! We are working very hard on this.

All bills that are not passed die at the end of the Congressional session, so we are now pushing to get included in one of the upcoming tax bills.

Thank you for the added input, Tom, and for outlining how things have progressed.

Well, the last session of Congress closed without the bill that we were a part of being passed. It had tremendous support, but unfortunately, the bill never got to the floor. The HDA made tremendous strides. For the first time we started to get recognition as a legitimate hobby. Legislators, as well...

I agree. Unfortunately, this is politics. :-(

Everything helps! Thank you so much.

There has been some push back, which seems to be the reason that the bill did not get to the floor. The bill was mostly for craft and the big guys, and I think that they tried to get our provision out, but Sen. Wyden remained supportive and insisted that it remained, so we all owe him a huge 'thank ...