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It’s Time to Legalize Home Distilling

Robert Alt Jun 03, 2026

When Jimmy Carter legalized home brewing in the 1970s, it unleashed a wave of American innovation that changed the craft beer market forever. Now, there is an opportunity to do the same thing with distilled spirits. Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, joined Matt Kibbe on Kibbe on Liberty to discuss Buckeye’s cases—Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury and McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice—to end the federal ban on home distilling. 

The cases are making their way to the Supreme Court and would allow Americans to distill their own gin, rum, and whiskey at home, paving the way for a new movement of craft distillers to disrupt the liquor market and bring fresh ideas to a thirsty, thirsty public.