From the short film comedy "Moonshiners" we know that under the Soviet regime, home distillation was prosecuted by law. But people still did it, but secretly. For this, if they came across, they “shone” a 2-year prison term, but only after 1948. Today you can drive homemade alcohol for personal consumption, but it is forbidden to sell it. A new law banning the sale of moonshine to “private traders” has been in effect since 1995. It also provided for the confiscation of equipment for moonshine and the finished product. However, in 2002, fines for making home-made liquor were abolished. Selling is punishable.
Is it possible to make spirits at home today?
Driving moonshine for home use is legal. But it is categorically forbidden to sell to individuals. You can legally buy devices for the production of this alcohol. When purchasing them, they are not required in the store and documents. From the house you can not sell anyone even a brandy. It contains ethyl alcohol, albeit in small quantities. Any person could and can “surrender” to the authorities a dealer in home-made alcohol. Even out of envy or anger. But you still need to prove the sale of moonshine or mash at home. And this can only be done by catching a moonshiner on the trade in "fusel haul".
What does the law say
The Law of the Russian Federation on Moonshine of 1999 provides for administrative responsibility for the production and sale of alcohol-containing liquids by individual entrepreneurs. This also applies 
legal entities. It does not apply to ordinary citizens (not businessmen). This does not mean that you can trade moonshine at home. There is still another law from 1995 that prohibits this.
The State Duma considered the possibility of introducing fines already for the manufacture of moonshine. And also for its storage. Perhaps this will only be an administrative punishment. The reason for the introduction of such a law in the future is the threat to social stability in certain regions of the country. But a bill establishing the legal responsibility of citizens for moonshining does not currently exist in Russia, and it is unlikely to appear in the near future.
About moonshine at home
You can't sell homemade alcohol. Deputies of the State Duma, however, periodically suggest - should we not ban moonshine at home? But such a bill has not yet been passed. The people continue to make an alcoholic drink for themselves. Sugar, other products, and vodka are getting more expensive. A lot of counterfeit liquor appeared on legal sale. Easily poisoned by low-quality alcohol from the "shop". But as long as it is allowed to make moonshine at home, the authorities are not prosecuted for this. It is not forbidden for citizens to make and store any home-made alcoholic drink.
Sell or not?
Driving moonshine for further sale is a dangerous occupation. But at least get drunk on them! Household members can also take part in drinking homemade alcohol. Neighbors can also visit. It's up to the owner, who to treat and who not. You can not offer moonshine or mash to minors.
Russian legislation is maneuvering with regard to moonshine, trying to somehow limit the increased consumption of alcohol by people. It either gives the monopoly on the production of alcohol to private hands, then takes it back. But the excessive consumption of alcohol by the population continues. And its production either goes underground, or “pops up” to the top. Also "maneuvering"
Finally
You can get a drink with degrees, store and drink it yourself, everything else is impossible. It is not forbidden to celebrate holidays with friends and neighbors with the same moonshine. Criminal liability in the case of the sale of moonshine is quite tough. This is what must be remembered. Alcohol as a drug is addictive. It is especially dangerous at a young age. During perestroika, the Soviet authorities fought hard against drunkenness and alcoholism. Then democratic changes in Russia made it possible to soften this struggle.
Almost everyone who is carried away by the process of moonshine sooner or later begins to wonder if there is and what kind of punishment for the sale. And this is right: even if you are not engaged in sales yourself, in the Russian Federation you always need to be prepared for the fact that they will try to attract you and fine you on any basis.
Codes and federal laws contain on their pages an innumerable number of articles, according to which, if desired, it is possible to attract not only home distillers, but also anyone who purchases and consumes alcohol at all. But if we discard the sentiments and turn to the facts, then they are as follows: the punishment for moonshine in Russia exists, but not for everyone.
Law No. 171-FZ
Federal Law No. 171, the legal basis for the protection of the public from counterfeit and substandard 
alcohol, clearly states that individuals who make alcohol of any strength "not for the purpose of sale" cannot be held liable. That is, if you produce moonshine at home, even if it does not meet the requirements of current standards, you are not threatened with an article for moonshine. In 2015, additions were made to this law, but they did not affect private distilleries.
If any representative of the authorities decides to visit your home or your other real estate (with your permission, of course) and finds, and even bottles of ready-made moonshine with price tags, he has no right to do anything. The testimony of witnesses and the collective complaints of neighbors will not help. There is no article for moonshining as such, and not for sale or another distribution option, in this law.
Administrative Articles 14.1 and 14.2
The most minimal punishment for home-brewing in Russia, provided that home-made alcohol was actually sold (donated, exchanged, and so on), is provided for in Article 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. She is being prosecuted for illegal business activities. That is, if you are not a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur, then you face a fine of 500 rubles and up to 2 thousand. Tradewomen are punished with the same fines for selling parsley near the store.
Article 14.1 also has a second paragraph, according to which one is punished for activities without a license. Trade in products with degrees and the production of alcohol are licensed types of business, so this article may well be incriminated to a home distiller. Here the fine is already higher: from 2 to 2.5 thousand rubles. In addition to this, mash and moonshine can be confiscated.
An almost similar liability - a fine of 1.5 to 2 thousand - is provided for in Article 14.2, if the fact of selling products whose distribution is limited by law is established. According to what article to "get excited", it is up to authorized persons to decide.
Criminal Article 171
The sale of alcohol is a special type of entrepreneurial activity, which implies the presence 
licenses. Accordingly, if you sell alcohol, you may well fall under Article 171. It states that the basis for applying sanctions should be the receipt of large income, that is, amounts from 1.5 million rubles. In this case, the punishment for moonshine in Russia is very severe.
If, in any way, the authorities manage to catch a home distiller selling alcohol, hand-made or made on the basis of store-bought alcohol, then liability arises under the Criminal Code. "Catch" in this case implies a test purchase. There are other ways of proving, for example, video and audio recordings, but this one is used most often.
Further, the matter will be small: to convince the court that a large income has been extracted. To do this, it is necessary to prove that the activity was carried out for a long time and that the capacities of the home distillery were quite capable of achieving semi-industrial production volumes. There are other ways to confirm the illegal inflow of funds.
If a case is initiated against a private producer of alcohol under Article 171, paragraph 1, then for the first time he will face a fine of up to 300 thousand. If there is no such money, they can impose a penalty in the amount of the salary for the last two years. This article also provides for a more severe punishment for the sale of moonshine: up to 480 hours of work for the benefit of the state or arrest for up to six months.
Criminal Article 238
The most serious liability for home-brewing in Russia may come if a home-brewer of alcohol is prosecuted under criminal article 238. It implies sanctions for those who produce, store and transport goods that can harm the life and health of the consumer.
The punishment under Article 238 is very severe: a fine of up to 300,000 or the withdrawal of salaries for two years, 360 hours of useful work for the treasury. They can even restrict freedom for two years, send them to forced labor or deprive them of their freedom for the same two years. Even more stringent sanctions are provided if someone has suffered from the sold moonshine.
This article, from the point of view of many jurists, is extremely doubtful. It is not entirely clear how to prove that moonshine can really cause more harm than store-bought alcohol. It is not clear what standards to compare this drink with (now they compare it with GOSTs for vodka and ethyl alcohol, which is unreasonable and even illegal). However, this is of little concern to judges, and the practice is such that under this article small traders are easily punished, whose "colossal" income does not reach even 10 thousand per month in the complete absence of data on poisoning.
Summarizing
If you make moonshine for your own needs, then you will not be fined for moonshine. Catering to family and friends? Also not punishable, especially if none of them complain about the poisoning. Well, if you decide to turn your hobby into a profitable business, be extremely careful. After all, now, as always in times of budget deficit, the fight against low-quality alcohol in the country has become very aggravated.
How a Barnaul entrepreneur makes money at the Moonshine Laboratory 
Moonshine and drinking culture, it would seem, are mutually exclusive things. For a long time, this "forbidden drink" was in honor of asocial elements, and the reputation of a low-quality and even dangerous product has been attached to it since Soviet times. Today, however, home-made hard liquor is becoming the prerogative of rather well-to-do people. It is still impossible to sell moonshine, but you can make a successful and legal business on it. The experience of the Barnaul entrepreneur Konstantin Doronin is a direct confirmation of this. A year ago, he founded Moonshine Lab, a small company that sells distillers and ingredients for making homemade alcohol. At the moment, the business has reached the level of self-sufficiency and continues to develop actively. An important component of the project is its educational part. The founder of the company not only sells equipment and ingredients to the client, but also undertakes to teach him how to make and use the “right drinks”.
In business from the university bench
Our interlocutor came into commerce at the age of 17. In 1990, Konstantin entered the Altai Medical University and firmly decided to earn his living on his own. The first profits came from the resale of ordinary chewing gum. Her fledgling entrepreneur bought in bulk by the box and sold in small quantities to commercial stalls.
By the age of 18, Doronin and his friend had their own kiosk and were no longer selling only chewing gum. However, after graduation, trading became not interesting. Our interlocutor got a job in a large company that traded coal: “In three years of work, I achieved a high position in this company, and since the company was a family business, there was simply nowhere to grow higher. Then I went to work in another company from the same niche - Sibirenergouglesnab (from 1995 to almost 2004 the company was the leader in the supply of thermal coal in the region and for some time after this period it retained its position as a major supplier).
In 2004, Konstantin Doronin left the coal business to start a new business. He characterizes the project as a classic startup.
Konstantin Doronin: “At that time, there were serious problems in the region with the supply of agricultural enterprises with spare parts for equipment. The supply bases, which existed more like a relic of the Soviet era, could not adequately supply all consumers. We figured out how to bring new technologies into the niche. I decided to launch a chain of supermarkets for spare parts for agricultural machinery and found an investor to implement the project. They were Selmashholding. At that time, Agromarket was the first company that had stores of this format. And she grew up very fast."
For 2.5 years, Agromarket opened 24 stores in the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region, and soon supermarkets appeared in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Rostov and Kursk Regions. The central office was located in Moscow. In 2007, Agromarket occupied a third of the spare parts market in the Altai Territory. The turnover was about 2 billion a year. “At one point, the project became uninteresting to the investor,” says Doronin, “this was due to the fact that the network was quite capital-intensive. Interesting tasks ceased to appear, and in 2008 I went into free swimming.
Konstantin Doronin had a stake in the company and received his option upon exiting the business.
The next successful project of the entrepreneur was another startup - the Eli-Khudeli ready-to-eat healthy food chain, which Mr. Doronin launched together with partner Evgeny Kurakov. About 1 million rubles were invested in the project - personal funds of the co-founders. Since March 2015 (the actual start date of the project), the network has grown to 12 cities of presence in Russia and Kazakhstan, covering 9 million people. The chip of the project is as follows: the client is invited to purchase a ready-made diet with a given calorie content. In order to lose weight, he does not need to independently count calories and look for a suitable menu. This problem is solved by the specialists of Eli-Khudeli. Rations are calculated for the day, week or month. The client pays for the order and picks up a package of food at points of issue or special branded refrigerators.
Mr. Doronin has another interesting project to his credit. The Komsyndrome service was supposed to help business travelers in all domestic matters from ordering a taxi to choosing a laundry, but later it was transformed into the Triple social guide (reviews about restaurants, hotels, hostels, etc.) and the Gostinets bonus system, in which customers can receive cashback in 150 hotels in the country.
Moonshine started with a gift
“Before, I was very skeptical about moonshine as a drink,” says Mr. Doronin. - This happened until my wife gave me a moonshine still - a Portuguese alambic. I made moonshine, I tried it. It became clear that with the help of home equipment it is possible to produce drinks of fairly high quality. It so happened that I looked at moonshine in a completely different plane.
The study of the issue showed that the supply of moonshiners with high-quality equipment, raw materials and, more importantly, information has a very real commercial prospect.
In 2015, Mr. Doronin opens the Moonshine Laboratory. At the initial stage, 200 thousand rubles were invested in the project. The funds were used to purchase inventory and operating costs. Now the project has reached the stage of self-sufficiency.
Konstantin Doronin: “One of the rules that I follow in business is the self-sufficiency of the project. Either a new business brings a profit sufficient for self-financing, or such funds are provided by investors, or the project can be closed. At the moment, the Moonshine Laboratory has demonstrated its viability. The company is engaged in sales of devices, raw materials for the production of moonshine and natural ingredients to give the drink different tastes.
Doronin's company holds master classes where everyone can not only learn how to brew the product, but also learn the history of drinks. For example, how Scotch whiskey appeared, and how to give moonshine its taste.
“We do not have a dealer contract with manufacturers,” says the interlocutor, “equipment is bought at wholesale prices. Devices are mainly in the economy segment, the price starts at about 6 thousand rubles. The discount from the wholesale price is approximately 20%. The "cheat" of the company is 35-50% of the segment. We trade mainly inexpensive devices - the level of a beginner home distiller. A person purchases the device “for testing” or as a gift. At the same time, we can also supply expensive products to order - if a person understands what he needs and is ready to pay money. However, we do not hold stock in the premium segment. It is capital-intensive, and the margin for such devices is small.”
Konstantin Doronin: “Of course, the business has not yet reached a certain high level, but we see interest in it. At the same time, you need to understand that our clients are quite wealthy people who are not interested in the very fact of drinking alcohol, but in the process of making it with their own hands. Among those who come to the "Laboratory" there are a lot of our customers from the days of a commercial kiosk. Then we traded in high-quality alcohol and told how to use it correctly. Our main target audience is men aged 35-40 who have taken place in their careers and in family life. At a certain point in time, a man has free time that needs to be occupied somehow. For some, this is a garage, for others, fishing or, less often, hunting. One way or another, both in the garage and fishing, people drink, and by the way, we are against this. But since it happens, it’s better to use quality drinks.”
The owner of Moonshine Lab says that in the technology niche for craft products, the process itself is sold: “We have a client who, in addition to moonshine, makes wine. He has a rather high quality, and at the same time the person himself does not drink alcohol, he treats his relatives and friends. This is indicative - he likes the manufacturing process itself. This niche, in my opinion, will grow in the future and will not be limited to the production of beverages or food. Alternatives to garage and fishing can be different. For example, a carpentry or furrier workshop. Someone is interested in working with wood or leather and doing something with their own hands. But in his apartment, he simply cannot do this. Why not give a man such an opportunity in a prepared place for relatively little money?
Konstantin Doronin states with regret that the development of home-brewing is not beneficial to the state: “There is a lot of talk about the dangers of drinking, and no one thinks about how many people suffered from low-quality products that are sold in the store at a “ridiculous” price. Everything is clear, the state makes a profit from excises, and in general, the authorities, apparently, benefit when a person buys a bottle of a cheap drink and, besides how to buy another one, does not think about anything else. The ideology of the craft product and, in particular, moonshine is different. Our product is taste, communication and good times both at the stage of production and at the stage of consumption. Of course, there is some progress in terms of legalizing home-brewed alcohol. We are talking about the possibility of selling homemade wine. But this is more likely done in order to bring producers from the southern regions - Crimea, Krasnodar, etc. out of the shadows. Moonshine for sale is still illegal.”
Despite everything, Doronin is optimistic about the future prospects of his company: “Firstly, we see interest from a large number of enthusiasts, and this indicates that the direction was chosen correctly. Secondly, at the Moonshine Laboratory we are practicing techniques in a new area, and this experience, which in itself is a good asset.”
"Laboratory of moonshine" in facts and figures
Initial investment in the project
200 thousand rubles. For a year of existence the company reached a break-even point.
Monthly expenses
200 thousand rubles.
Monthly net income
200 thousand rubles.
Sales channels
Sales are carried out in offline and online stores. The company mainly trades in distillers of domestic production.
Distiller price
Starts from 6 thousand rubles. The discount provided by the suppliers is 20%. "Cheat" on the goods - 35-50%.
Store assortment
Goods for brewing, winemaking, ingredients for making drinks.
Staff
4 people. The company conducts master classes. The cost of one lesson is 500 rubles.
I'll tell you about a person who found the opportunity to make a fairly criminal way of earning money relatively safe and quite in line with the current legislation.
It was 1998. I was asked by a friend to install and configure the software to one of his acquaintances. He picked us up in an old UAZ, as he lived far outside the city. Looking into the car, I saw a dozen large cans there and felt a very specific smell that cannot be confused with anything - the smell of moonshine. Naturally, I flatly refused to get into the car. The fact is that these were just those times when the mafia group, which was in power, apparently having grabbed a large piece of the state alcohol industry, decided not to share it with other mafiosi and introduced a formidable taboo on the production of burned vodka - the so-called state monopoly. At that time, all kinds of organs were chasing the manufacturers of palenka, like SMERSH was chasing German spies during the war years. Naturally, then it was better to be involved in treason than to get involved in the alcohol business.
The owner of the UAZ swore to me for a long time that we would not get into any business with him and finally spoke about his simply ingenious scheme for selling moonshine.
The fact is that 70 kilometers from our city there is a huge landfill for various kinds of waste. And nearby, some time ago, they began to build some kind of enterprise, but soon abandoned it. The unfinished buildings were chosen by the homeless. They live there at different times of the year from 3 to 10 thousand people. They feed mainly from the landfill, collecting and handing over glassware, paper and metal to collection points. These collectors are divided into castes according to the types of raw materials they collect. To get into one or another caste, you need to pay a kind of entrance fee in the amount of 500 to 5000 rubles. Consequently, the income from this activity is rather big.
Now - the main thing. Almost all the money these people spend on vodka. In winter, a glass of vodka every half an hour saves from a terrible cold, and the rest of the time, alcohol, clouding the mind, does not allow you to go completely crazy. They drink a huge amount of alcohol - it is vital for them, like an anesthetic for cancer patients.
Our friend somehow established contact with their leaders and undertook to supply them with moonshine, which he himself drove in his barn. Vodka at that time began to rise in price, and the homeless are not always allowed into the store. And moonshine was sold much cheaper, and one could not particularly care about its quality - the main thing is that it be strong.
Twice a week, this man took 200-300 liters of moonshine to the landfill. Before that, he was a farmer - barely making ends meet. And then, in a couple of months, I distributed debts, repaid a bank loan, bought a new car, and began building a house. In response to my question about the dangers of communicating with customers, the man eloquently demonstrated a double-barreled shotgun of the twelfth caliber, loaded with buckshot. Despite the completely drunken mind, any homeless person lives by the instinct of self-preservation, which is more developed in him than in any of us. So he will not trample on a gun.
This whole scheme is interesting in that it completely falls out of the scope of the legislation and, with small precautions, does not threaten any complications from the state, tax authorities, etc. No laws are violated, because there is nothing about the homeless in the legislation, our legislators do not notice the phenomenon of this. The whole thing is covered up. Even from a moral point of view, there is nothing out of the ordinary. Not a single person from that colony will return to normal life, and alcohol helps them to endure their lives. Our friend only satisfies this need in the best way and receives a well-deserved profit. There is no competition - no one else risks contacting the homeless. There is no way to fall asleep looking for new customers - sales are always wholesale and, as they say, in one hand.
That's how well the former farmer settled down. Until the economy in the state returns to normal, such forms of business will be much more efficient than traditional ones.
Home production of moonshine in recent years has turned from a shameful and criminally persecuted occupation into a popular hobby for people of all incomes. Of course, there are no official statistics on this subject. However, there are indirect indicators. In some regions, the sales of yeast and sugar are growing. Sellers of moonshine stills provide their reports: according to various data, at the end of 2015 - beginning of 2016, the sale of various kinds of distillation stills increased by 20-30%. The information is confirmed by one of the largest manufacturers of moonshine stills, the Chelyabinsk plant of household appliances. According to the most rough estimates of experts, the volume of moonshine produced annually is 200 million liters.
Often, moonshine is not the end goal, but an intermediate link in the manufacture of elite distillates: whiskey, cognac, calvados.
European experience in home brewing
Almost every country has its own analogue of our moonshine, its own original drink: moonshine, rakia, schnapps. The legislation of European countries is very loyal to their drinking traditions.
Among the EU countries, only Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland prohibit the production and, moreover, the sale of home-made alcohol. In the rest of the fear, various measures are in place, ranging from production for personal use up to open sale.
One of the most democratic in this matter is France. Here, home distilleries are everywhere locally. The production of Akvavit (living water) is elevated to a cult along with wine.
In Austria, the tax office needs to pay excise duty in advance for the required amount of alcohol. In exchange, receive a device with a built-in counter of produced liters. Manufactured products can be used in any way, including for sale.
In Germany, home production of alcohol requires a license. But the licensing process itself is quite simple. You can also pay an excise tax, get permission to manufacture and, with your raw materials, mash, go to legalized distilleries for distillation. A similar rule applies in Bulgaria, where there is a ban on home distillation, but there are public distilleries.
But outside the European Union, our closest neighbors Belarus and Ukraine, moonshine is banned. In Belarus, the ban came into force in 2009 after a slight thaw.
In our country, such activity came out of the shadows in January 1997, when the criminal punishment for home-brewing was abolished. How legal is such production today and what is the responsibility?
Federal legislation in the Russian Federation
At the moment, in the Russian Federation, any actions in relation to alcohol are established by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation FZ N 171 of November 22, 1995 "On state regulation of the production of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products."
The answer to the main question appears already in the first article. The third paragraph states that home-made alcoholic beverages are not for sale, in other words, for personal use, this law does not fall under this law. Moonshine in and of itself is not a criminal offence. You can absolutely legally buy and store a moonshine still, make and store mash and alcohol-containing drinks at home, use it personally and with your family. It does not matter how high quality and safe such products are.
Responsibility arises in the event of the sale of these products. Moreover, sales is understood not only as a direct sale, but also as a gift, exchange, any paid and free transfer of your products to third parties. The recorded and proven sale of alcoholic products already falls under the administrative and criminal legislation of the Russian Federation.
Administrative responsibility for the sale of moonshine
In the case of a proven fact of the sale of home-made alcohol, the moonshiner falls under the provisions of articles 14.1 and 14.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. These articles look at this offense from a different angle and apply different punishments.
Article 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses draws its attention to illegal business. And if the first part of the article punishes for the lack of state registration of the relevant individual entrepreneur or legal entity, then the second part - for the lack of a license required for the sale of alcohol. In the first case, the fine varies between 500 and 1500 rubles. In the second, already from 2,000 to 2,500 rubles with a possible confiscation of equipment and finished products.
Moreover, the question of how profitable this business is is not worth it. For the investigating authorities, the receipt of income and the amount of profit do not matter.
Also, your actions may fall under Article 14.2. The sale of prohibited or restricted products is subject to a fine. In addition, as an additional punishment, confiscation of production equipment and finished alcohol can be carried out.
In judicial practice, the illegal sale of moonshine is most often qualified under Article 14.2, less often under the first part of Article 14.1. This decision is made by the relevant authorities, depending on the precedents existing in the region. The second part of Article 14.1, according to human rights activists, cannot be used in this situation. In the actions of a citizen (not an individual entrepreneur or a legal entity) there is no subjective side of the offense: as an individual, he cannot obtain a license for his activities.
If your activity is qualified as an administrative offense, the fine in any case will be 500-1500 rubles. In the worst case, confiscation of equipment and products is possible.
Criminal liability
Illegal business
The Criminal Code considers the sale of homemade moonshine as an illegal business. Violation occurs if such trade without registration as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity or lack of a license (for types of activities subject to licensing) caused major damage or brought in a major income. Depending on the aggravating facts Article 171 Russian Criminal Code determines the following penalties:
- a fine of 300,000 rubles;
- community service up to 480 hours;
- arrest for up to six months.
Despite the severity of the article, it will not be able to touch ordinary moonshiners. The text contains a clause about the presence of damage to third parties (the state) or income on a large scale. In this context, a large amount is considered to be an amount above 2,250,000 rubles. It is unlikely that home-made moonshine can bring such income. More, this article is aimed at a business selling illegal alcohol.
In any case, complaints from neighbors and testimonies of witnesses alone are not enough to start proceedings under this article. A test purchase must be carried out, audio and video materials confirming the offense. Additionally, an expert assessment of the production capacity of the distillation apparatus is carried out in order to establish the possible volumes of produced and sold alcohol.
Security Violation
In the section of crimes against the population and public morality, article 238 is provided. It is aimed at suppressing the transportation, production, storage and sale of products that do not meet safety requirements. This wording is quite applicable to moonshine.
The punishment under this article is quite severe:
- fine from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles;
- community service for up to 360 hours;
- restriction of freedom for up to 2 years;
- imprisonment for a term of 2 to 6 years.
Separately, it is worth noting the serious consequences in the event of a fatal outcome by a consumer of low-quality products. A proven link between the use of moonshine and the death of 2 or more people, both the seller and the manufacturer are threatened with:
- forced labor for up to 5 years;
- imprisonment for up to 10 years.
Until recently, it was impossible to confirm the quality of moonshine. During court proceedings, an expert check of moonshine is carried out in accordance with GOSTs developed for rectified products (alcohols and vodka). It is quite predictable that moonshine, like a distillate, does not meet these requirements. Perhaps the situation will change due to the entry into force of new documents: GOST R 56368-2015 "Russian traditional drinks on natural raw materials" (valid from 01/01/2016) and GOST R 55799-2013 "Grain distillate" (valid from 07/01/2015) . In the first document, such concepts as moonshine, horseradish, honey, spotykach, sbiten are legalized. True, to establish the production of these drinks is an expensive pleasure and only large enterprises can do it.
Conclusion
Despite the initiatives of some deputies and lawmakers, there are currently no laws in Russia prohibiting the production of moonshine at home. It can be done for yourself and for the needs of your family. And you should not sell it, even to acquaintances. The minimum punishment is administrative liability and a fine of 500 rubles. In the event of serious consequences, such a business can turn into a deadline.
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