The law, plainly

General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed: 2026-09-28.

• New Hampshire: since January 1, 2025, state law (HB 1624, signed July 2024, now RSA 175:5-b) lets adults 21+ distill liquor from their own homemade beer or wine for personal or family use, not for sale. The cap is the spirits you can make from 100 gallons of beer or wine a year per household (200 gallons if two or more adults in the home are producing).
• Federal: federal law still bans operating a still in a home without a TTB permit (26 U.S.C. 5178, 5601). On April 10, 2026 the Fifth Circuit (TX, LA, MS) held that ban unconstitutional in McNutt v. DOJ, but the ruling protects only the people who sued and the Hobby Distillers Association. On April 21, 2026 the Sixth Circuit (Ream v. Treasury) upheld the same ban. Both sides have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the cases (petitions filed July 20 and August 14, 2026); as of late September 2026 the Court hasn't decided whether to hear them. New Hampshire sits in the First Circuit, which hasn't ruled, so for a New Hampshire resident home distilling without a federal permit is still a federal crime.
• In class, we distill real spirits for demonstration and discard them.