I was making the point on principle: there are quite a few Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do-type laws[1] on the books, which indeed protect people from scammers that don't have their best interests at heart; but where, if you do have people's best interests at heart (and know what you're doing enough to not, say, use unsterilized bottles), the laws are actually giving consumers a suboptimal result, and people will be grateful for the things you can do for them by skirting them.
For an example of what I do think is a valid "hustle", say you're holding an event and selling tickets. You have the idea of getting your friend--who owns a nicely pimped-out bus, and who has a commercial driver's license (so you know they can drive that thing safely)--to come around and pick people up and take them to the event as a free service. You're probably still breaking all sorts of little laws there--taxi or limo laws, certainly--but the customers who take you up on that service are getting a better experience than if they had to arrange transportation separately.
This, on the other hand, is closer to the line. I think, if they had been doing anything "food-processing-y" to the vodka, like adding a flavorant or something, I'd be less okay with it; as it was, though, they just did a bottle-filling and a labeling, which anyone with experience in home kit-wine/kit-beer making knows how to do safely. I would say that, in my own mind, at least, it's similar to buying bulk-ketchup at Costco and then printing up ketchup packets with your brand-logo on them and giving them away at your restaurant.
I was making the point on principle: there are quite a few Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do-type laws[1] on the books, which indeed protect people from scammers that don't have their best interests at heart; but where, if you do have people's best interests at heart (and know what you're doing enough to not, say, use unsterilized bottles), the laws are actually giving consumers a suboptimal result, and people will be grateful for the things you can do for them by skirting them.
For an example of what I do think is a valid "hustle", say you're holding an event and selling tickets. You have the idea of getting your friend--who owns a nicely pimped-out bus, and who has a commercial driver's license (so you know they can drive that thing safely)--to come around and pick people up and take them to the event as a free service. You're probably still breaking all sorts of little laws there--taxi or limo laws, certainly--but the customers who take you up on that service are getting a better experience than if they had to arrange transportation separately.
This, on the other hand, is closer to the line. I think, if they had been doing anything "food-processing-y" to the vodka, like adding a flavorant or something, I'd be less okay with it; as it was, though, they just did a bottle-filling and a labeling, which anyone with experience in home kit-wine/kit-beer making knows how to do safely. I would say that, in my own mind, at least, it's similar to buying bulk-ketchup at Costco and then printing up ketchup packets with your brand-logo on them and giving them away at your restaurant.
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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_Nobody's_Business_If_You_...