Microdistillery article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning

[MarkEdwards]

There was an interesting article in the local online paper this morning, about the rise of "hobbyist distillers":

http://fwix.com/dallas/share/e285beb108/moonshine_quietly_gets_a_21st-century_makeover

[Dramiel McHinson]

There was an interesting article in the local online paper this morning, about the rise of "hobbyist distillers":

http://fwix.com/dallas/share/e285beb108/moonshine_quietly_gets_a_21st-century_makeover

Ruh-Rooooh! When the taxman gets a whiff of this untapped revenue he going to try to get a Christmas bonus by taxing untaxed home made shine. It will all work out if the home distiller can claim a home office deduction and hobby expenses. :grin:

[cowdery]

If your house burns down because the illegal still in your basement starts a fire, will that invalidate your homeowners insurance?

[ErichPryde]

If your house burns down because the illegal still in your basement starts a fire, will that invalidate your homeowners insurance?

[p_elliott]

If your house burns down because the illegal still in your basement starts a fire, will that invalidate your homeowners insurance?

I would guess that it would like DUI invalidates your comprehensive car insurance. Dieing of cirrhosis of the liver from drinking invalidates most life insurance policies too.

[matthew0715]

I would guess that it would like DUI invalidates your comprehensive car insurance. Dieing of cirrhosis of the liver from drinking invalidates most life insurance policies too.

Warning: Thread drift.

If I die from cirrhosis of the liver, it's because I'm an alcoholic, and alcoholism is a disease, probably inherited. Why should that disease invalidate my life insurance? Does death from smoking related illness invalidate life insurance? Don't you understand, I'm a mindless automaton with no free will, at the mercy of forces beyond my control! :grin:

Matt

[smokinjoe]

Warning: Thread drift.

If I die from cirrhosis of the liver, it's because I'm an alcoholic, and alcoholism is a disease, probably inherited. Why should that disease invalidate my life insurance? Does death from smoking related illness invalidate life insurance? Don't you understand, I'm a mindless automaton with no free will, at the mercy of forces beyond my control! :grin:

Matt

I think you mean:

“Don’t you (MAKER’S MARK) understand, I’m (MAKER’S MARK) a mindless automation (MAKER’S MARK), with no (MAKER’S MARK) free will (MAKER’S MARK). At the mercy (MAKER’S MARK) of (MAKER’S MARK) forces (MAKER’S MARK) beyond my (MAKER’S MARK) control (MAKER’S MARK)!â€

Muuuwaahahahahahhahahah!!!!!!! (Evil Laugh) :70358-devil:

[callmeox]

IANAL, but isn't this virtually the same as admitting to the newspaper that you are running a meth lab in your house? :skep:

[ILLfarmboy]

If my house burns down because of the huge bunker I have, and the investigators note that alcohol fuel may have been involved, will they accuse me of arson and invalidate my insurance?

Lucky me, I've got enough smokeless powder to mask the effects of all of the alcohol.

[theDon]

If your house burns down because the illegal still in your basement starts a fire, will that invalidate your homeowners insurance?

Well we don't have basements in Texas so most stills would be in a shed that probably wouldn't be covered anyway.

[MarkEdwards]

IANAL, but isn't this virtually the same as admitting to the newspaper that you are running a meth lab in your house? :skep:

That was my first thought - sort of like an "I hate cops" bumper sticker on a red sports car...

[cowdery]

Ipso facto, volunteering in print that you are actively operating an illegal still can only be called stupid. You even wonder if reporters should have a legal duty to protect the stupid from themselves, but that would pretty much destroy political coverage.

[Ultra]

Well we don't have basements in Texas so most stills would be in a shed that probably wouldn't be covered anyway.

[cowdery]

Actually, one of the requirements in the greatly relaxed Federal licensing rules is that a still cannot be within a residence or within a set number of feet of one.

And am I to understand that there are no residential basements in the entire state of Texas? Really? And how is that "reality," when we weren't really talking about Texas, were we? You do have basements in Michigan, don't you, Charlie. Or are they surreal basements?

[ErichPryde]

Lucky me, I've got enough smokeless powder to mask the effects of all of the alcohol.

[callmeox]

This house in Dallas has a basement.

Either I struck gold with a quick search or there are more.

[cowdery]

This house in Dallas has a basement.

Either I struck gold with a quick search or there are more.

I'm glad to know we can cancel the telethon.

[theDon]

This house in Dallas has a basement.

Either I struck gold with a quick search or there are more.

You know and that looks exactly like my house. You mean I could have had a basement. Normal residential houses do not have a basement in Texas because the ground shifts too much. Standard info.

[cowdery]

You know and that looks exactly like my house. You mean I could have had a basement. Normal residential houses do not have a basement in Texas because the ground shifts too much. Standard info.

I know it's true in New Orleans, for example. I would guess it's true of Houston for the same reasons. I'm just skeptical because Texas is so big, I find it hard to believe the whole state has this issue. No big deal. I'm always happy to have new information.

[theDon]

I know it's true in New Orleans, for example. I would guess it's true of Houston for the same reasons. I'm just skeptical because Texas is so big, I find it hard to believe the whole state has this issue. No big deal. I'm always happy to have new information.

I just don't think it's a building tradition here either, not just an issue with ground movement. I live in the Dallas area we don't have them other than of course the picture of Jerry Jones' house that Ox found.

[sku]

Basements are fairly uncommon in California as well. I've heard a number of explanations, from it simply being stylistic, to it having to do with the warmer weather and the lack of a "frost line" which is required for the foundation, but I have no idea of the real reason.

[theDon]

I found a ton of info by googling "basements in Texas" and this is the last time I'll post on this. North Texas land is clay and shifts, shrinks and expands, west and east Texas soil is too sandy. Houston area water tables are too high. The only place they are common seems to be the Panhandle which is Tornado alley. I'm done. Somebody get this back on track.

[callmeox]

Is this the wrong time for me to declare in public how much I love this place?

[cowdery]

Yeah, I'm finding this interesting. The micro-distillery thing has been done to death, let's convert the whole board to basement chat.

Now that I think about it, I can't remember ever being in a residential basement in Texas.

I've lived in Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois and this is basement country. Around here, if your house doesn't have a basement, it probably has wheels.

[theDon]

Yeah, I'm finding this interesting. The micro-distillery thing has been done to death, let's convert the whole board to basement chat.

Now that I think about it, I can't remember ever being in a residential basement in Texas.

I've lived in Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois and this is basement country. Around here, if your house doesn't have a basement, it probably has wheels.

You know at one point I wanted to make that joke....How do you put a basement in a trailer house, but contrary to popular belief, most of us live in actual houses built with cement foundations. Which is another factor. If you look in the phone book under foundation repair, you will find exactly 3,000,604 companies offering services to take care of your foundation problems in Texas.