Just a few miles south of me is Franklin County,
VA, the only county in the entire USA to have its
own dedicated ATF (Department of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms) office.
This is the moonshine capital of the planet, and
the ATF keeps very busy. I myself have sampled
some peach brandy that was seized, and I think
I may just buy that fellow a license and set him
up in a legitimate business if he can ever sober
up and stay out of jail on drunk-and-disorderly
charges for a few months running.
I asked one of the agents one time about Mead,
and he laughed for long time. He said that
he was well aware that "home brewers" of beer and
wine might sell a few bottles to friends and
neighbors. He said that he knew of no
"enforcement interest" in this area. Not worth
their time.
His guess was that anything under 100 bottles
a year would be hard to prosecute, on the
grounds that this simply is not enough capacity
to prove an overt "intent to distribute", and
"personal use" would be a "colorable defense",
meaning that the judge throws the case out for
lack of cause.
But he said yes, the ATF would likely HAVE to
follow up on (and try to fine) someone who was
overtly reported to them by the usual ex-spouse
looking for revenge or neighbor with a
property-line dispute.
But even then, the "personal use" defense would
likely prevail, he said. Moreso when the product
is not "hard liquor", and has no track record of
being occasionally toxic, as moonshine can be.
Of course, one's state, county, or municipal
law enforcement agents might have a much lower
threshold for concern. For example, in the
town nearest me, I had to threaten to sue the
town to get them to stop confiscating skateboards
from kids who were skating on property that I own
downtown. ("Yes, officer, EVERYONE has permission
to skateboard on that parking lot at their own
risk, which is why I put up the small sign.
...and yes, as it happens, I DO own the entire block...")