What kind of alcohol is moonshine

My father told me to stay away from what he called "white lightning," that if I drank it, it would probably put unwanted hair on my chest. I didn't need convincing: Before I reached the double digits, he let me smell the contents of the jar. Needless to say, I recoiled instantly, thinking : Who would drink this? The answer, of course, ranges from whiskey lovers to cocktail fiends , with moonshine becoming increasingly popular over the last decade, outliving its reputation as a potent liquor that could leave you dead, blind or paralyzed.

So what exactly is moonshine, and how did it go from one of the most illicit liquors in the United States to one winning the hearts of mixologists and craft distillers? Photo: Valery Rizzo. Moonshine purists define the spirit as a homemade, unaged whiskey, marked by its clear color, corn base and high alcohol content—sometimes peaking as high as proof.

Traditionally, it was produced in a homemade still and bottled in a mason jar. Scottish and Irish immigrants, many who settled in the southeastern throngs of the country, first brought moonshine to the United States in the 18th century.

The spirit quickly became a mainstay of Southern culture. It was Alexander Hamilton who imposed a tax on whiskey production in , making any untaxed moonshine production illegal. Whiskey drinkers avoided taxation by making and buying moonshine at night, under the cover of darkness and the light of the moon—which some suspect gave rise to its name. Moonshine was once an important financial aspect of the Appalachian economy, providing a source of income in bad economic times and in areas where poverty was rampant.

Like any good produced in the U. Moonshine experienced a deep lull when the U. In recent years, moonshine seems to have had a resurgence. Now with the trend for higher prices at the liquor store, especially for imported spirits, moonshining has hit the spotlight again. In , a BBC investigation into moonshining in the United States found that as many as a million Americans were breaking the law by making moonshine.

In the same year, Tennessee started selling legal hooch in big box stores like Walmart and Sam's Club. On the internet, several websites offer stills made of all copper for sale, ranging from 1-gallon personal models to gallon commercial outfits.

One seller claimed the demand for his copper stills doubled in recent years and that he had shipped stills to every state in the U. Illegal moonshine remains dangerous because it is mostly brewed in makeshift stills. It can be dangerous on two levels, both during the distilling process and when consuming it. The distilling process itself produces alcohol vapors, which are highly flammable.

The flammable vapors are one major reason why moonshine stills are almost always located outside, although it makes them easier to be spotted by law enforcement.

The threat of vaporous explosions is too great if confined inside. In terms of consuming the liquid, if the final product is over proof, the moonshine itself is also extremely flammable and can be very dangerous. While the flammability of the distilling process and the product itself is a danger, more people have died from drinking moonshine than have died by explosions of stills due to the toxins in the brew.

Although many of the stills in operation today are the all-copper variety, there are plenty of the old handmade stills still around. Old stills use vehicle radiators in the distilling process, and they are apt to contain lead soldering, which can contaminate the moonshine. The old radiators could also contain remnants of antifreeze glycol products which could also add toxins to the brew. In larger batches of distilled moonshine, tainting with methanol can also occur.

Because methanol vaporizes at a lower temperature than alcohol, the first liquid produced by the distillation process can contain methanol. The larger the batch, the more methanol. Most moonshine makers today know to pour off those first drippings from the condenser, also known as the foreshot, but not all of them know or do it.

Methanol is highly poisonous and can cause blindness and even death. In a study, Dr. Christopher Holstege, a physician with the University of Virginia Health System, tested 48 samples of moonshine obtained by law enforcement from different stills.

The relationship between NASCAR and moonshine can be still seen today through brands like Sugarlands who often collaborate together during racing events. Sugerlands Moonshine. Given the lack of regulation and standardisation, there is a diverse variety of legal moonshine. As a result, they can all deliver very different flavours.

Arguably, a high-quality traditional moonshine should have a strong bouquet of corn both in the nose and on the palate. Occasionally, it may have slightly fruity flavours that are reminiscent of cider or even grappa. Other varieties of moonshine might taste a lot like vodka, depending on the way it was distilled and the resulting alcohol content.

Meanwhile, it has become a popular practice to cut the distillate with fruit juice and other flavours. A popular version is apple pie moonshine, which is made by combining the distillate with cider or apple juice as well as sugar and spices like cinnamon.

Various flavours exist, including blackberry, peaches, root beer, and strawberry. Occasionally, they may feature pieces of fruit that have been preserved in the alcohol.

These are technically liqueurs and much weaker in comparison. Ole Smoky Moonshine Cocktail. This adage is especially the case with moonshine! In the 19th century and earlier, moonshine was often consumed neat as there were few alternatives. It was uncommon for it to be stored in large ceramic jars, which kept the alcohol cool and easier to drink. Sugarlands Root Beer Moonshine.

The lateth and earlyth centuries saw the birth of cocktail culture. Although more conventional drinks were originally used for cocktails, they became exceedingly popular in speakeasies during the Prohibition.

As much of the alcohol consumed was either very strong or of poor quality, they were added to cocktails to render them more palatable. Today, you can happily drink moonshine however you want without facing much criticism from purists. Although a minority of people will claim that it must be drunk in its pure form, this is actually quite rare.

Nonino Grappa Moscato. As we detailed above, there are plenty of different types of moonshine. Firstly, clear moonshine occasionally bears a slight resemblance to vodka. Therefore, if a cocktail asks for one, you can swap it for the other.

The result may be a little different as moonshine has more character as well as added clout. The amount of alcohol in moonshine differs depending on the distillation process, but in the United States, moonshine can't legally be distilled to more than 80 percent ABV, and can't be bottled at more than For more understanding of how moonshine got such a dangerous reputation, it might help to have a little bit of background knowledge about this historical hooch.

Moonshine was a term once used for any liquor that was made illegally, but nowadays it usually refers to a specific spirit, also known as white whiskey or corn whiskey.