This article was first published by The Newark Advocate.

NEWARK − Trek Brewing Co. owner John Ream filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of the Treasury, asking the court to overturn the government's ban on home distilling of alcohol for personal use.

Ream, represented by lawyers from The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational institution seeking to advance free-market public policy, argues the ban exceeds Congressional authority under Article I of the U.S. Constitution and violates the 10th Amendment.

The criminal penalty for breaking the law on home distilling, according to the lawsuit, is up to a $10,000 fine and five years in prison.

Ream and his wife, Kristin, opened Trek Brewing in 2017 at the old Allison's Pub and Grub and Damon's restaurants location on Granville Road in Newark. They opened the brewery after nine years of brewing in their home, transforming the hobby into a business.

"Mr. Ream runs a successful brewery and is interested in trying his hand at home distilling," said Robert Alt, the Buckeye Institute president and a lawyer on the case. "But with this, he can't even start — for his own consumption in his own home — because it's a felony to do so. I think it's somewhat shocking to people."

The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, states that home brewing and winemaking are permitted under federal law. And distilling of alcohol is legal if it's used exclusively for fuel use, allowing farmers to distill ethanol to power their tractors.

Thomas Hogue, the congressional and public affairs director of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

"It's not a question of a product that's prohibited," Alt said. "It's just a prohibition of distilling it in your own home. The government should have to explain why it's prohibited in such an aggressive way. What authority does Congress have to regulate in the privacy of one's own home?"

After the Reams got engaged, Kristin Ream gave her future husband a home brewing kit. They lived in Seattle and John Ream worked as an engineer at Boeing. The Granville High School graduates later moved back home to open the brewery.

The lawsuit states, "Mr. Ream has never distilled alcohol before, but he would like to apply his engineering background and brewing experience to experiment with home distilling to attempt to master the process, just as he did with brewing."

If he could, Ream would like to start distilling whiskey. He has studied and researched the distilling process but will not break the law, the lawsuit states.

What would a victory for the Reams mean?

"It would be big for our client," Alt said. "So, he could experiment with home distilling. And it would establish a larger principle: There are limits to Congressional authority. It would have national implications."

The lawsuit also names as defendants: Janet Yellen, as secretary of the treasury; the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury; and Mary Ryan, administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.