COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Buckeye Institute has filed its opening brief in the appeal of Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
John Ream, from Licking County, Ohio, is challenging the federal government’s ban on home distilling of spirit beverages. He argues that this ban goes beyond Congressional authority under Article I of the U.S. Constitution and violates the Tenth Amendment.
“The district court’s ruling denies Mr. Ream the ability to vindicate his constitutional rights without risking criminal liability by actually violating the home-distilling ban,” Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute and a partner in BakerHostetler’s Washington, D.C., office, said in a release. “Fortunately, the Sixth Circuit’s own precedent allows Mr. Ream to challenge this unconstitutional law without opening himself up to prosecution.”
Before they married, John’s wife, Kristin, gave him a home brewing kit, which sparked his interest in brewing. After nearly ten years of brewing at home, the Reams opened Trek Brewing Company in Newark.
Since its opening in 2017, the family-owned business has become a community gathering place and supports local organizations through the Trek Community Fund.
Now, John Ream wants to try distilling small amounts of alcohol at home for personal use. However, he said he faces the threat of federal prison time and hefty fines if he proceeds without government approval.
“According to novelist William Faulkner, there was no such thing as a bad whiskey; some whiskies are just better than others. Unlike whiskey, there is such a thing as a bad law, and the federal government’s ban on home distilling is just that—a bad and unconstitutional law,” Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, said in a release. “And the remedy for this bad law is the U.S. Constitution, which does not grant Congress the power to criminalize distilling in one’s own home for personal consumption.”
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