Wednesday, May 28 2008
Don't Try This At Home
Bathtubs? We don't need no stinking bathtubs!
My own personal philosophy is simple: never tease the Feds. Stirring up the revenoors is just bad business and never seems to work out well in the end. Too bad this citizen of Tennessee didn't keep that in mind. According to the Nashville Five-Oh:
A citizen complaint led to an investigation this week that uncovered a substantial illegal wine making operation. Central Precinct Crime Suppression Unit officers, assisted by the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, executed a search warrant Monday at a residence in the 6700 block of Clarksville Pike.
Harry Krantz, 63, of Joelton, admitted that he has made wine for years and sold it to individuals for $25 dollars a gallon. He fermented the wine in steel storage drums inside a barn. Seized were 350 gallons of wine, 24 steel drums, two 550 gallon fermentation tanks, and $10,520 cash.
Krantz was issued state misdemeanor citations for manufacturing alcoholic beverages, unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages, storage of alcoholic beverage for resale, possession of untaxed alcoholic beverages, and violation of regulations governing the purchase and sale of intoxicating beverages.
Initially this doesn't sound that bad: 350 gallons of wine? I have that much in my office. Of course, I'm Canadian and that's fine. In the US a citizen is allowed to make 100 gallons of fermented beverages per adult, to a maximum of 200 gallons per household, per year, for personal use (know who's idea that is? Jimmy Carter, bless is peanutty, house-building heart).
The scene of the crime . . .
So getting pinched with 350 gallons and a bunch of proceeds-of-crime is pretty much prima facie evidence of intent to defraud the boys in Washington of a bunch of alcohol taxes. What surprised me is that the feller was silly enough to do this in Tennessee--after all, whiskey distillers pretty much own that state. Any bets that the 'citizen complaint' was phoned in from the legal department at a certain gigantic distillery?
Regardless of potential competitive issues, it's important to remember the law of the land: if you want to sell wine for a living, better take care of the licensing and permits first--or learn how to make pruno later.
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