Government shouldn’t stop me from making whiskey
This is about more than whiskey
Benjamin Franklin may not have actually said it, but T-shirts do: “Beer is evidence that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
My wife agreed with this sentiment and bought me a home brewing kit almost 16 years ago. I have been happily brewing away ever since.
What started as a little hobby in my garage soon turned into my own American dream — Trek Brewing Company — that we have owned and operated as a family business and gathering place in Newark since 2017. Trek isn’t just a business though.
Through our Trek Together Community Fund, we help fund and support other local organizations and do our best to make our community a better place to live and work. We have built a business we are really proud of, and I like to think our establishment offers just the sort of place and pint Dr. Franklin would have enjoyed if he ever found himself in our neighborhood.
Why am I suing the government
Beer is not the only drink I appreciate though. Professionally, I am an engineer by formal training and have extensively researched and studied the art and craft of distilling, specifically whiskey, and more specifically domestic ryes and bourbons.
There are new flavors and combinations that I would like to explore — responsibly, of course — with a smallbatch home distillery for my own personal consumption and curiosity. I do not want to sell the whiskey I would make, but I would like to taste it and see how I do at it.
Unfortunately, I can’t.
At least not legally.
Federal law prohibits me from distilling any spirits or “hard alcohols” at home, in the shed, out in my garage, or on the back porch, etc.
Breaking this law is a felony that could earn me five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. I will not break the law.
But I will challenge it in federal court. With the assistance of some capable lawyers at The Buckeye Institute in Columbus, I have taken legal action against Uncle Sam.
The legal argument here is quite simple: the Constitution gives Congress a lot of power, but it does not include the power to criminalize distilling alcohol in my own garage.
If Congress can prohibit me from home distilling, what is to stop it from banning home bread baking, vegetable gardening, fixing up the family Ford in the driveway, and practically anything else?
Congress is abusing its power to “regulate interstate commerce.” I don’t want to sell what I distill to my neighbors, let alone across state lines. What I am proposing to do is neither interstate nor commerce.
The federal government shouldn’t be allowed to have this level of intrusion into my home and hobbies.
It is absurd that I can legally brew beer at home—and ultimately turn my craft into a business—but I dare not distill an ounce of whiskey for my own personal consumption. You don’t have to be as smart as Benjamin Franklin to understand how ridiculous this federal regulation is.
John Ream owns and operates Trek Brewing Company in Newark. He is represented by The Buckeye Institute in Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury .