Posted on 09/21/2010 1:15:33 PM PDT by Inappropriate Laughter
This undated photo released by David Haskell shows bottles of moonshine and bourbon at Kings County Distillery in the Brooklyn borough of New York. King's, which is licensed, sells white whiskey in medicine style bottles labeled simply "moonshine." (AP Photo/David Haskell)
White lightning, mountain dew, firewater - you know it as the illicit substance made in secret by tax-dodging mountain men and drunk by people looking to alter their reality in a serious way.
But hooch is being infused with a whole new spirit thanks to a new generation of home and professional distillers.
"Moonshine is multifaceted these days," says Max Watman, who researched the underground liquor industry for his book, "Chasing the White Dog."
The idea of bootleg liquor conjures up a vision of lazy creekside afternoons. And there is a small population of moonshiners still carrying out the mountain tradition. But modern moonshine mostly falls into two different categories, according to Watman. Sure there are criminal organizations that essentially prey on the poor. But there also is a burgeoning hobbyist scene made up of the same type of people that drove the microbrewed beer movement.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Also: Beer is legally homebrewed and equipment and supplies sold through local homebrew shops and online.
Wine and Root Beer, too.
I would respond to this thread but I can no longer see.
Got a Mason jar full a couple of weeks ago.
Yoo yunguns keep outta granny’s roomatiz med’cin, ya hear?
However, it's only 80 proof thanks to the laws of the state of NY.
Truly authentic moonshine was/is typically 120 proof, I believe.
The story was that a bunch of lunkheads had cooked up a batch of moonshine, one guy had died from it, and at his wake, some other guy had gotten so liquored up and offended that someone was talking to his woman that he pulled a knife and stabbed two people.
I read the story out loud to my wife, her mother, father and sister. They all just shook their heads and said, "Montague."
I bet this would sell like mad in Asia and the Latin American markets. And Europe too.
I still have a bottle that my grandmother made in the 50’s.
I think that's what's currently being "blended" with our gasoline, at least here in New York.
Sooo...”hobbyists” is what they call themselves now?!!
Probably the dumb yuppies on Capitol Hill believe that!!!
Hot corn cold corn bring along the demijohn
Hot corn cold corn bring along the demijohn
Hot corn cold corn bring along the demijohn
Fare thee well Uncle Bill see you in the morning yes sir
I thought it had something to do with methanol getting into the product stream.
The lead solder in the auto radiators resulted in another set of problems.
Correct.
Sadly, it is undrinkable even before the blending because of the federal tax code.
Denatured alcohol is not subject to the same tax as beverage alcohol, so the ethanol distillers spend thousands to poison it in order to transport it across state lines rather than pay millions in liquor duties.
My research says the blindness thing is not true. If you drink the bad fractions, like acetone, you die. I suppose that ‘dead’ can be construed as ‘blind’.
somehow,someway, something about this will be declared a crisis and a new bill will be voted on restricting the use of yeast, potatoes, etc....anything that could be used to make this illegal sustance...
Revenuers have never gone out of style.
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