Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, introduced a bill into the Washington state Senate committee on Labor, Commerce, Research & Development legalizing distillation for craft brewers.
“Washington already allows people to make their own beer and wine, so I think allowing them to produce, consume and even sell modest quantities of distilled spirits should also be allowed,” Sen. Marr said.
The bill 6292 creates a new entity, "Craft distillery". According to the bill, a “Craft distillery” means an establishment that produces within Washington twenty thousand gallons or less of spirits per year using a pot still and in which more than fifty percent of the raw materials used in the production are grown in Washington.
The license is $100, which should make it very easy to open a craft distillery. While the bill introduced by Sen. Marr does not apply to homebrewers, it might open the doors for home distillation in the future.
The bill also states the “use of purchased neutral grain spirits shall be prohibited by a craft distillery unless those neutral grain spirits are made in Washington state”. The purpose of the bill is to encourage the use of local agricultural products.
My guess is that the politicians really don't know the difference. The bill is also still in committee, so that text might be changed before they vote on it.
