Law & HistoryChecked October 31, 2026
HomeDistiller.net

An independent guide to the law and history of home distilling in America

Home distilling around the world

The United States is not alone: most countries that tax spirits also restrict home distilling. One well-known exception is New Zealand.

CountryHome distilling of spiritsKey rule
New ZealandAllowed for personal useCustoms and Excise Act 2018, s 67(4)(b): no licence is needed for an individual making beer, wine or spirits in a private dwelling exclusively for personal use and not for sale or other disposition. Legal since October 1996.[1,2]
AustraliaNot allowed without a licenceThe Australian Taxation Office requires an excise manufacturer licence to distil spirits and says it does not grant licences for personal consumption. Stills of 5 litres or less need no licence if they are not used to distil alcohol.[3]
United KingdomNot allowed without approvalHMRC's producer-approval rules exempt products made for domestic use, but that exemption "excludes spirits."[4]
CanadaNot allowed without a licenceThe Excise Act, 2001 makes it an offence to possess a still or other equipment suitable for producing spirits with the intent of producing spirits, unless one holds a licence or a narrow exception applies.[5]
United StatesFederal felony, now before the Supreme Court26 U.S.C. § 5178(a)(1)(B) and § 5601(a)(6). See where the law is heading.[6,7]

New Zealand: legal since 1996

New Zealand's personal-use exemption covers beer, wine and spirits alike. Its conditions are that the spirits are made by an individual in their own home, exclusively for personal use, and not sold or otherwise passed on.[1] The exemption dates from October 1996, when New Zealand's new customs and excise rules exempted beer, wine and spirits made for one's own consumption; it was first written into the regulations, then into section 68B of the Customs and Excise Act 1996 in 2009, and since 2018 into section 67 of the new Act.[2,8,1] That is close to the deal the US already offers home brewers and winemakers, and close to what the Freedom to Home Distill Act proposes for spirits.[9,10]

The common thread

Where home distilling is banned, the rule usually sits in the tax law, enforced by the tax authority: the ATO in Australia, HMRC in Britain, the excise laws in Canada and the TTB in the United States.[3,4,5,11] That matches the history: governments have policed private stills to protect the spirits tax ever since the Scottish and Irish spirits taxes of the 1600s, and the 1868 American law is one more example.[12,13,14]

Laws change, and this table is brief. Check the official source for any country before relying on it.

Sources

  1. Customs and Excise Act 2018, section 67(4)(b) New Zealand Legislation
  2. Legality (New Zealand: Customs and Excise Regulations 1996, reg 9) homedistiller.org wiki (not affiliated with this site)
  3. Unlicensed manufacture of excisable alcohol Australian Taxation Office, last updated June 9, 2023
  4. Check if you need an alcoholic products producer approval (APPA) HM Revenue & Customs, GOV.UK
  5. Excise Act, 2001, section 61: Possession of a still Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada
  6. 26 U.S.C. § 5178: Premises of distilled spirits plants Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
  7. Docket No. 26-204: Department of Justice v. McNutt Supreme Court of the United States, petition granted October 19, 2026
  8. Customs and Excise Act 1996 (repealed), section 68B: Exemption for alcohol manufactured for personal use (inserted 2009) New Zealand Legislation
  9. 26 U.S.C. § 5053(e): Beer for personal or family use Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
  10. H.R. 10157, Freedom to Home Distill Act (introduced text) U.S. Government Publishing Office, August 27, 2026
  11. Home Distilling Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), page last updated March 17, 2025
  12. The story of Scotch Scotch Whisky Association
  13. Poitín: monks, King Henry VIII, the Revenue Commissioners and mountain dew RTÉ Brainstorm (Judith Boyle, TU Dublin), June 20, 2023
  14. Ream v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, No. 25-3259 (opinion) U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, April 21, 2026