Alabama

• 1/1/2015 last updated

Because Alabama has dry and wet counties the laws regarding stills are specific to each county. You will need to look up your specific county to find out if it is a dry or wet county.

In Alabama it is legal to own a still for non-spirit making usages such as essential oils or distilling water in wet counties. In dry counties ownership of a still for any reason is illegal as is legal production and sale of spirits. Because of this Alabama is listed here based off dry county laws.

Section 28-4-24 reads as follows

Any person, firm or corporation who shall, within this state, distill, make or manufacture any alcoholic, spirituous, malted or mixed liquors or beverages, any part of which is alcohol, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor in the penitentiary for not less than one year nor longer than five years, such imprisonment to be fixed within these limits by the court.

Section 28-1-1 reads as follows

In all counties of the state it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to have in his or its possession any still or apparatus to be used for the manufacture of any alcoholic beverage of any kind or any alcoholic beverage of any kind illegally manufactured or transported within the state or imported into the state from any other place without authority of the alcoholic control board of the state, and any person, firm or corporation violating this provision or who transports any illegally manufactured alcoholic beverages or who manufactures illegally any alcoholic beverages shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided by law.

Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

Because of the restrictions in dry counties it is illegal to produce fuel even with a federal license.

Wet counties that allow stills for non-spirit production should allow production of fuel with a federal license.

A county issued license is available and required. Read the REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS for more information. You may also want to read about the TTB alcohol fuel laws

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The state of Alabama requires a License Type 200 – Manufacturer’s License with a license fee of $500.

There are several licenses you need to request to legally manufacture spirits. Below are the federal licenses only. Additional state requirements will need to be followed as well.

You must submit a request for a license to manufacture spirits: TTB 5110.41 Basic permit.

This license only allows you to produce spirits. You also need a license for the distilling equipment / distillery: TTB 5100.24 Distilled spirit plant

For manufacturing ethanol fuel you will need to submit a request for a TTB 5110.74 for a federal license.

Dry Counties: It is illegal to manufacture moonshine or to possess a still regardless of usage in these counties. It seems like even legal distilleries are not even allowed.

Wet Counties: It is illegal to manufacture moonshine or to possess a still for the production of spirits. But because there are no laws specific to owning a still for non-spirit production it is legal to own a still or to use it for other purposes (essential oils, water, etc.).

There are currently no laws that allow for non-commercial production of spirits in Alabama therefore citizens are unable to produce spirits for personal use. It is illegal to be in possession of moonshine.

Current federal laws allow citizens the right to own a still and operate it for non-alcohol production.

This means legally you can:

• Own, manufacture, sell or be in possession of a still.
• Distill water
• Produce essential oils or other non-alcohol liquids
• Fuel production is legal federally with the correct licenses.

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