Is brewing and distilling home made spirits illegal in the UK without a license?!
If you can categorically prove that you are distilling for your own personal consumption or for experimentation, or even to create a medical cleansing alcohol then it's perfectly legal, just not advised as you may blind/kill yourself in the process. But customs and excise will still put the screws on you for not paying alcohol duties.
Brewing & fermenting on the other hand...go for it. Just dont do what I did and forget about your tanker of fermenting yeast and hops behind the sofa and come winter, when the heat is whacked up again, the whole thing explodes, sending beer suds everywhere.
Answers: Your not allowed to produce a distilled product for retail or consumption by others, however, it's a lot like canabis, there is a loop-hole.
If you can categorically prove that you are distilling for your own personal consumption or for experimentation, or even to create a medical cleansing alcohol then it's perfectly legal, just not advised as you may blind/kill yourself in the process. But customs and excise will still put the screws on you for not paying alcohol duties.
Brewing & fermenting on the other hand...go for it. Just dont do what I did and forget about your tanker of fermenting yeast and hops behind the sofa and come winter, when the heat is whacked up again, the whole thing explodes, sending beer suds everywhere.
You can brew to your hearts content, in fact it will probably put you off beer for life.'I have to drink four pints, love, otherwise there will only be eight tomorrow!!'
Distilling is another thing altogether though. It's dangerous. People have gone blind drunk drinking home made beer but never blind.
for yourself no
but you can not sell it
nooooooooooooooooo
Brewing is not, but distilling is.
If Customs find out you have a still. watch out!
You can brew, but you aren't allowed to distill. As for being dangerous... When we were students my ex brewed beer for a party. Only God knows what the alcoholic content was. What I do know is that one guy ended up in hospital with alcoholic poisoning!
You need an excise license
You may not legally distill anything to drink in the UK (or most countries) and because anything alcoholic would be "drinkable" it would be difficult to prove your innocence to any enquiring law-enforcement agency if they came along to check...
However, you can "brew" and make wine and beer for your own use without any license, permission or other requirement. However, you may not sell what you produce without a license and other permissions (usually from your council).