Columbus, OH – Five nationally renowned policy organizations and public interest law firms filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit supporting The Buckeye Institute’s case, Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, which challenges the federal government’s ban on home distilling.

“What better way to celebrate our country’s 249th birthday than by defending the U.S. Constitution?” said Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute and a partner in BakerHostetler’s Washington, D.C., office, who is a lead attorney on the case. “The Buckeye Institute is grateful for these five organizations that filed in support of Buckeye’s client John Ream of Licking County, Ohio, and we enthusiastically raise metaphorical glasses of fully legal non-home-distilled spirits to them.”

The groups that filed amicus briefs in support of The Buckeye Institute’s Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury case were:

• Americans for Prosperity Foundation
• Cato Institute
• Center for Individual Rights
• Liberty Justice Center
• Southeastern Legal Foundation

A Colonial Williamsburg historian wrote that:

The American Revolution meant the decline of rum and the ascendancy of whiskey in America. When the British blockade of American ports cut off the molasses trade, most New England rum distillers converted to whiskey. Whiskey had a patriotic flavor. It was an all-American drink, made in America by Americans from American grain, unlike rum, wine, gin, Madeira, brandy, coffee, chocolate, or tea, which had to be imported and were taxed.

“A timely and fitting way to honor our great nation’s independence and courageous founders is to recognize that Congress still possesses limited powers, which do not include the authority to regulate home distilling for personal consumption,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, who is also a lead attorney on the case.

Before they were married, John Ream’s wife Kristin gave him a home brewing kit as a gift. After experimenting with making beer at home for nearly a decade, Mr. Ream turned this hobby into his own American Dream and career—opening Trek Brewing Company in Newark, Ohio. Since 2017, this family-owned business has grown into a community-gathering place that, through the Trek Community Fund, actively supports local organizations that make the area a better place to live. Now, Mr. Ream, who is an engineer by professional training and education, would like to try distilling small quantities of alcohol for his and his wife’s personal consumption. However, the federal government threatens Mr. Ream with years in federal prison and thousands of dollars in fines if he were to pursue that activity, which is as American as apple pie.

Read more about The Buckeye Institute’s case and stay up-to-date on its progress at: BuckeyeInstitute.org/ReamvUSTreasury.

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