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Originally Posted by GA Russell
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I don't think so. Not distilled alcohol. But, maybe it is permitted in certain jurisdictions.
I'm a nondrinker, so my knowledge on some things will be weak. But, if memory serves me correctly, "distilled" alcoholic beverages have the alcohol content artificially increased by the distillation process. Maybe people using the phrase "distilled beverages" also would include in the meaning of that phrase beverages which are "fortified," I think that the word is, in which alcohol is added directly to the beverage in order to bump up the alcohol content.
I spoke of alcohol content being "artificially increased." The natural process of fermentation will produce an alcohol content of only a maximum of around 10%. That is because (again, if memory serves me correctly) at that point the alcohol that the yeast produced will start killing the yeast! I think that beer and some wines (the unfortified ones) have the alcohol content that they do solely from natural processes--no distillation or fortification is involved.
I think that just about everywhere in the U.S. a person is allowed to make his or her own beer, wine, or other non-distilled, non-fortified alcoholic beverages, as long as it is not sold and maybe also with the qualification that it is just for their own personal use.
Making distilled beverages with their higher (potentially much higher) alcohol content are a different matter. Again, I don't think that it would be allowed anywhere or much of anywhere in the U.S. In the U.S., at least, there is this drink called "moonshine" that people make (it seems like the "stills" that I have seen in photos and videos always have a car radiator and curling copper tubing involved); it used to be done much more than it is today. Moonshine is a distilled beverage and it's illegal to make it. Part of the reason is that there isn't the quality control that there would be elsewhere and people have died from drinking it--seems that if you're not careful the still will make methyl alcohol (methanol), too, which is deadly, along with the ethyl alcohol (ethanol) which will make you happy. But I'm sure that part of the reason, too, is that it's distilled.
Mobilereaders, help me out! Tell me about my inaccuracies.