In Colorado, you can grow your own weed, brew your own beer and make your own wine.

It even appears as if Colorado’s constitution allows you to process marijuana into highly concentrated hash oil — a method that uses butane and has resulted in several explosions and injuries.

But a curious and unnecessary remnant of the Prohibition era still exists, banning people from distilling their own spirits for personal use.

While it’s legal to brew up to 100 gallons of beer and wine for personal use, not even one drop of spirituous alcohol can be made without a federal permit or paying excise taxes.

“The government wants its tax money,” said Josh Bayne of Aurora, who founded the Craft Distilling Academy and travels around the country teaching home-distilling.

“It is no less safe than frying a turkey. I think it is actually safer. The main thing is the government wants its cut.”

If people can legally grow pot, brew beer and make wine, why shouldn’t we allow them, in the privacy of their own homes, to create alcoholic spirits for their personal use?

The government says the distilling process can be dangerous and produce lethal hooch. But home distillers say that is an overstatement, and believe the real reason is that big alcohol doesn’t want competition and the government fears losing its tax base.

I understand not wanting to allow people to sell their own moonshine, just as the law forbids home-brewers from selling their beer without proper licensing.

Even more disturbing are claims the federal government is forcing businesses that sell distilling equipment to turn over names and addresses of their customers for possible future prosecution.

Distilling is the process that purifies liquid by heating it into vapor, which is then condensed through cooling. The resulting liquid can become everything from whiskey to gin.

This can be a natural next step for home-brewers who have been considering taking their beer-making process to the next level, i.e., “What happens if I run this ale through a still?”

A cottage industry has grown up around home distilling — from manufacturers of distilling equipment to distributors that sell wares over the Internet, such as Mile Hi Distilling in Wheat Ridge.

Several states have lax authority when it comes to home distilling, including Missouri, which allows people to distill up to 200 gallons for personal use without a permit.

In Colorado, it is illegal, but only a petty offense.

However, the feds still consider home distilling illegal. In March, federal and state authorities arrested eight people in Florida and confiscated 46 stills, saying possession of unregistered stills and production of distilled spirits without federal permits or paying taxes were felony offenses.

That raid prompted a group of distillers to form a lobby to try to get the federal law changed.

Rick Morris, who owns a Texas distillery manufacturer and distributor, is leading the effort. Federal agents came to his business a year ago and demanded lists and addresses of customers who had bought stills or kettles over the previous three years. One of those customers whose still was in an unopened box was among those who were arrested in the Florida raid.

“That concerned a lot of people,” he said. “To start busting hobbyists … . That’s when we said it’s time to get that changed.”

The Hobby Distiller’s Association is leaning on federal lawmakers to grant hobby distillers the same legal standing as beer-brewing and wine-making hobbyists.

Arguments against home distilling maintain that it is dangerous — capable of producing poisonous methanol-laced drinks or explosive stills.

We have all heard of moonshine that can make you blind. Turns out, it can. But so can staring at the sun.

Methanol — which can cause health problems such as damage to the optic nerve — is easy to separate out during the early stages of the distilling process. Any good distiller knows this, and isn’t going to be making hooch for home consumption that will blind a person.

“You can do stupid stuff with anything and kill yourself,” said Lenny Eckstein, who in 2012 opened Deerhammer Distilling Co. in Buena Vista after learning how to distill at home.

Colorado has seen a proliferation of craft distillers, which are following the popularity of craft beer. One estimate is that 40 new craft distillers have opened in the Centennial State.

Eckstein said the boom in distilling is occurring because state laws are friendly to craft brewers and distillers, allowing for self-distribution and alcoholic beverages made on-site to be served in tasting rooms.

The federal ban against home distilling ultimately hurts innovation, he said.

“Home brewing (beer) being legal has allowed for so much innovation that it has done amazing things for the commercial industry,” he said.

“There could be so much innovation with distilleries if people could do that legally at home.”

E-mail Jeremy Meyer at jpmeyer@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JPMeyerDPost