Moonshine fines???

[mountainman]

What are the fines if you are caught doing a small run of shine say 5 gallons of mash?Does anyone know of anyone caught lately and if so what were the fines?Georgia

[birdwatcher]

A judge dismissed a recent case in Kingston Ontario, as the defendant was using his product for home consumption.

Cheers,

G

[dutch@home]

at 2004 in holland a guy got a fine of 100.639 euro. and 4 months jail.
thats without 10.064 euro tax fine!
he had 1.131 liter ethylalcohol and 3.108 liter of shine at home.
he claimed "an out of controll hobby"
the judge said" this is not a hobby anymore, your illigally distilling"

i think some people ratted him!
it did not say he was selling?
if its only for sipping or medical purposes he should be drunk al day

[birdwatcher]

That's scary and surprising to hear that kind of severity in Holland.

In Ontario distilling remains against the law, however in the Kingston case the judge must have seen the stupidity.

I wish I could give you more details, however everyone thinking about distillation should understand the following from John Stones book on the subject.

Legal Considerations
......When considering the possibility of making or buying a small still for the production of spirits at home, or even reading about it, people need to feel comfortable about it. There are two concerns: one is the possible danger to health while the other is the question of legality. In a separate menu item we discuss health matter quite thoroughly and show that there is not the slightest danger. In the present section we discuss the question of legality.

......The first thing to appreciate is that the law on home distillation is based on a completely false premise, a false premise resulting from misinformation fed to politicians and civil servants. They are seldom chemists, biotechnicians or chemical engineers and cannot be expected to be knowledgeable on a technical subject, so they simply parrot what has been handed down to them by previous generations. However, the advent of the Internet enable you and millions of people like you worldwide to understand the subject of distillation so well that you can no longer be fobbed off with myth, folklore and childish superstition.

......What is this mythology and folklore and what are the facts? We'll deal with them individually and in point order.
....Fact.. Distillation makes a particularly strong and virulent type of alcohol so must be controlled.

Distillation doesn't make alcohol. It never has, never will, and is incapable of doing so. This .is worth repeating ----distillation doesn't make alcohol. Alcohol is made by fermentation, a perfectly harmless pursuit as millions of beer- and wine-makers will testify.

Distillation produces stronger alcohol (this is true), and the stronger the alcohol the more likely it is to affect your health and lead to drunkenness and unruly behaviour (this is the myth). Therefore it must be controlled.

Alcohol strength is irrelevant. It is the quantity of alcohol consumed which matters, witness the fact that 85% of people pulled over for drinking and driving have been drinking beer, not spirits. The same goes for the hooliganism at sporting events so common in Europe ---the fans drink can-after-can-after-can-after-can of 5% beer until the quantity consumed adds up to a large amount of alcohol. (This is not meant as a criticism of beer-drinkers, we love beer,-----it merely points to the irrelevancy of alcohol strength.

Making it legal for amateurs to distill spirits would lead to a loss of sales by commercial distillers, the laying-off of employees, and loss of tax revenue to the government.

To be cynical about it, a potential loss of tax revenue is a very powerful motivating force.with governments and the most likely reason for the ban on home distilling. The fact is that in.New Zealand, in the years leading up to the lifting of the ban (1996) sales of spirits had been steadily declining. The same is true of many other countries. But in New Zealand, as.soon as amateurs were free to distill their own spirits there was an immediate rise in.commercial sales. (And also a rise in tax revenues of course).

The reason for this surprising turn of events is attributed to the upsurge in interest in spirits which occurred as soon as it became a hobby. It was no longer a remote commercial enterprise but something for fun-loving youth and hobbyists to get their teeth into.

......The realization that hobby distilling poses no more problems than beer-making and wine-making, and should be afforded exactly the same rights and freedoms without fear of prosecution, has been slow to come about but is finally taking hold. New Zealand led the way in 1996 but other countries undoubtedly will follow suit as soon as the light dawns.

......The most important example of this trend, a very significant trend, can be found in the United States where a bill is currently before Congress --- (Bill H.R. 3249) designed to legalize home distilling. It was sponsored by Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan and has been referred to the Ways and Means committee. Its progress can be followed by reference to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

.. .. So------ a lifting of the ban is quite likely to occur in the near future, and those of you who have a yen to indulge in this hobby can start to feel quite comfortable at the thought. It is no longer a heinous crime on a par with mugging old ladies and child abuse. Governments are finally waking up to the fact that it is a perfectly innocuous activity (which might even bring in a little tax revenue!) so if you anticipate the actual date of legalization by a day or two it would be quite understandable.

Home

[Husker]

Are you sure about that bill? I used Thomas to search for HR3249, and found Social Security Disability Determination Simplification Act of 2005 (Introduced in House)

I also searched for the keywords: distill, distillation, liquor and could find no bills fitting the description you listed (but I really wanted to see one). There were lots of bills, but most were dealing with fuel ethanol distillation (and one tax repeal), but none that repealed the ban on home distillation.

H.

[birdwatcher]

Hi Husker,

Check out: http://www.gin-vodka.com/legal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Bear in mind that this book was written 10+ years ago. Whether this has a bearing on this information, I can't say.

Thanks for your interest.

G

[Husker]

Found it. It was in the 107th congress (Nov 2001).

This was a bill sumitted, but was not really "meant" to be made into law. Sometimes these type of bills get "inserted" into another bill as an amendment, but this one did not. It had no co-sponsers, was referred to the "Ways and Means" committe, where it probably was never even discussed (I have not researched that). Here is some information about it:


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z ... @L&summ2=m&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

H.R.3249
Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow distilled spirits to be produced in dwelling houses, other connected structures, and certain other premises.
Sponsor: Rep Stupak, Bart [MI-1] (introduced 11/7/2001)
Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 11/7/2001 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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Jump to: Summary, Major Actions, All Actions, Titles, Cosponsors, Committees, Related Bill Details, Amendments

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SUMMARY AS OF:
11/7/2001--Introduced.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the prohibition on producing distilled spirits in specified locations, including dwelling houses, sheds, yards, and enclosed areas connected with any dwelling house.

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MAJOR ACTIONS:
***NONE***

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ALL ACTIONS:
11/7/2001:
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

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TITLE(S): (italics indicate a title for a portion of a bill)
***NONE***

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COSPONSOR(S):
***NONE***

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COMMITTEE(S):
Committee/Subcommittee: Activity:
House Ways and Means Referral, In Committee

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RELATED BILL DETAILS:
***NONE***

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AMENDMENT(S):
***NONE***

[birdwatcher]

Scrap one bill.

G

[Aidas]

Lithuania provides:

if you - with the intention of selling - produce, store or transport up to 50 liters of shine, you're liable to be sentenced to community service, a fine, detention or jail up to two years.

If more than 50 liters (with intent to sell) -- a fine or up to 5 years of prison.

If more than 10 liters (WITHOUT intent to sell) -- qualified as a misdemeanor and subject to a fine, administrative arrest or community service.


The lesson here: never produce more than 10 liters at a time, never have more than 10 liters on hand at a time, and never transport 10 liters or more.

Not a problem -- you just keep up to 10 ltrs at home and hide the rest outside the home.

Aidas