And not adding to the myth that homebrewers are up to anythnig shady.
Well, if'n I was a moonshiner, I'd want to set my still up in the shade.
All jokes aside, I certainly understand the AHA concern about the discussion of distilling (from a hands-on technical viewpoint) and in regard to possible efforts to legalize distilling. Our mission & purpose are about beer and brewing, not distillation, wine-making, etc. I can see where some might think it's not in the interest of the organization, or even might be bad for our primary interests, to consider efforts to legalize home distillation.
On the other hand, there is a strong and direct tie in between beer and whisky distillation, not to mention cross-fertillization with whisky barrels being used to age beer and even in some cases beer barrels being used to age whisky. I firmly believe that if we homebrewers had the freedom to learn to safely distill at home, our creativity, experimentation and willingness to explore & push the limits would benefit the craft brewing industry and their ventures in distillation.
While this currently may be a minority opinion and interest, I'd like to see us continue our discussions here rather than take it to a distillation forum in the hopes that more home brewers may become interested in making home distillation legal. It may be a while before that would gain enough traction to become a goal of the AHA but we have to start somewhere. Its both an issue of freedom (and I think most home brewers are in favor of that) but also of huge p[otential benefit to our interest in alcoholic beverages. If I had a brewery, I'd like the freedom to brew, distill, make a mead or a wine, blend all of 'em (or some of /em) together - in short to follow my creativity and taste wherever it might lead.
That is not currently possible with our laws today, but I can dream about the time when it might be possible. If enough of us share that dream we can make it happen. If we discuss it, we might find that more share that dream in our organization than we suspect... and if not, then maybe we'll convince them that we have a viable plan, but only if we continue to discuss and build interest & consensus.
(how's that for diplomaticly stating the postition?)