Many years ago I may have participated in a crime. But don't be too impressed with how much of a badass I was--it consisted of me drinking a bit of a illegal, home-made liquor. I hope the statute of limitations has passed, since I don't want to have to do future posts from prison.
Folks making their own liquor at home is nearly ubiquitous around the globe, since you can ferment basically any fruit or grain. (I've heard that in prisons, to return to that, people even make some using ketchup packets as a base.) Since I'm American, I'll be focusing on my homeland's version of it. American moonshine is typically corn-based whiskey. Although it's presumably made all over the country, it's particularly popular in, and associated with, the Appalachian Mountain region of the country. It's believed to have been introduced by Scots-Irish immigrants by at least the 1700's. This product goes by many names: white lightning (after its usual clear color), mountain dew, hooch, and choop. The word "moonshine" has a couple of linguistic theories behind it. One is it comes from "moonrakers," from Wiltshire, England, which was a place where alcohol manufacturing and smuggling was very common. The legend goes that one night some smugglers were caught by government revenue agents while attempting to retrieve some liquor barrels that they'd hidden in a lake. The smugglers pretended to be dumb hicks, saying they were trying to rake the large round "cheese" in the sky. The agents then stupidly assumed that the smugglers were that stupid, and left. Another, more realistic explanation is that people who made illegal liquor were busiest at night, under the illumination of the moon.
One of the major reasons people made moonshine was financial, of course. Customers are usually willing to pay more for an intoxicating liquor than for regular corn. It's also easier, and a lighter burden, to transport barrels of liquor made from corn than the whole corn ears themselves, clearly. But there was a catch. For much of the country's history, making moonshine was legal, as long as the proper, sometimes high fees and taxes were paid. So, many folks took the risk of transporting it, and selling it, outside the law. And even more so during Prohibition, obviously. As this became an industry in the 20th century, enterprising men modified their cars to better store moonshine, and to better outrun the vehicles of police officers or government agents. To keep their driving skills sharp when they weren't transporting liquor, these same drivers would compete against each other in races. Thus, the now incredibly popular car racing sport of NASCAR was born.
Making homemade liquor is not without other dangers, too. One of the most common tools for making moonshine is a re-fitted car radiator, for use as a condenser. Any residual antifreeze can add dangerous glycol to the mix. Or, any lead in it can also cause serious health problems, since lead is so dangerous if consumed. Blindness, or even death, can occur. Some toxins were added by sleazy manufacturers themselves, such as methanol, in order to hike up the liquor's alcohol content. A folk tradition holds that one can tell the safety of the liquor by putting a flame to it and then observing the color produced. A blue flame means it's safe. A yellow, or especially red flame means it's dangerous. There's even an expression--"Lead burns red and makes you dead." I don't know if this test is entirely accurate, so don't hold me to it.
I was interested to learn about the current laws concerning making your own liquor. Since 1978 Americans can make their own beer or wine at home. There are some limitations, obviously--you can only make a small amount, for personal use. If you want to make a lot, or sell it, there are various fees, and permits, etc. But liquor is a different story. Under federal law a person is allowed to possess a still, and use it for decoration, or to distill water, or essential oils. But it is illegal to distill liquor without a permit, even if it's for personal use, and you're not selling it. There is a common misconception that it's okay as long as the still has only a gallon capacity, but that's not true. The permit, called a Federal Distilled Spirits Permit, is difficult to obtain, and is very expensive, meaning only large companies go through this. There is, however, a major loophole. People can get a Federal Fuel Alcohol Permit, which is reportedly easy to get, and free. As the name suggests, this permit allows you to distill fuel alcohol, such as for your lawn mower. But, since the permit is almost never denied, and there is usually no checking up to see if the person is only making fuel alcohol, a lot of people circumvent the intent of the law, and make their own drinking liquor. (Presumably, though, if they're caught, there must be stiff fines, or maybe jail time.) And, of course this whole situation is further complicated by individual state laws, which sometimes differ drastically. Some states, for example, don't allow even fuel alcohol distilling, or even possession of the distilling equipment.
Anyway, enough background. I had moonshine during two periods in my life. The first was in 2006 or 2007, in Tennessee. The archaeology project I was on needed a backhoe for part of it, so we hired a local operator, whose name I can't recall. He was a pleasant fellow, and socialized with my crew after hours at our hotel. One night he brought us some of his moonshine. It was the classic, clear, corn-based whiskey kind. I don't remember the manufacturing details of it, except that he did mention the "blue flame good, yellow or red flame bad" folk tale. I recall the moonshine being very strong, and harsh tasting. Sufficient to do the job of getting you drunk, but not especially palatable. (To be fair, I should mention that I'm not a big fan of straight hard liquor in general, and straight whiskey in particular, so bear that in mind.) The second time was in Philadelphia, in 2009-10. My friend, who I'll call Matt, since that is his name, was the maker. He made several batches over the months, but I tried two basic kinds. The first was similar to the Tennessee sort--clear, harsh, and strong. The second one, though, was much better. It didn't taste as strong, and had a nice sweetish flavor. This was because it was made using apples as the base. I was going to provide some detail on the manufacturing process, but maybe that's not such a good idea from a legal standpoint. So I'll just say the aging process was surprisingly brief, only a few days up to a week or so.
In conclusion, then, while I can't officially condone it, some American-style moonshine is not without its charms. And if you like whiskey, you might really enjoy it, even the harsher corn-based kind. Since many other countries' versions often use different herbs and fruit flavorings, I suspect I'd probably like theirs even more. If I get the chance, as usual, I'll update this post. I have noticed in the past decade or two that legal versions of moonshine are being sold more. Often they have the traditional trappings, such as being sold in jars, with amateurish-looking labels and such. So I guess this is a compromise for consumers to want to feel like they're drinking the traditional, "naughty" liquor, while actually not breaking the law, or risking blindness, etc.
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