Moonshine becoming a serious category?

I am not sure about other areas of the country, but here in TN, with changes in the laws regarding moonshine a few years back we have seen a huge growth in producers and available brands for unaged corn whiskey. Mostly this translates to a section in the store dedicated to high-dollar flavored vodkas in mason jars, but I have also seen some interesting and somewhat complex products land on the shelves as well.

Will this gain enough momentum to become a serious category in the long term? Is it a fad that will fizzle out shortly? It certainly won’t usurp the premium vodkas from their throne anytime soon, but local mixologists are creating some interesting concotions featuring this spirit. We are seeing bars where moonshine is the central focus popping up here and there as well.

Sorry this isn’t directly related to wine. It is more of a general booze retail topic. What does the wineberserkers community think?

We not carry pour spouts that fit the mason jar type bottles, that told me a lot.

Interesting that you should mention pour spouts. They rolled out a brand in Memphis this week that has a pour spout compatible opening integrated into the mason jar lid. Also 2 out of the 9 containers I received had leaky lids, but not from the pour spout.

Yeah, it’s a spout integrated into a mason jar lid that you’d replace the factory lid with.

A part of me says people will soon realize that these products are not moonshine and lose interest. But, I have learned not to count on the consumer base learning things about what they’re drinking. What I do think is that people will eventually realize these products are just cheap vodka in kitschy packages and lose interest because cheap vodka that’s called “vodka” is cheaper and the quality is similar. Or they can get mid-tier flavored vodka that’s just as good as the “better” “moonshines” also for less money. I could be wrong. Maybe I just want the category to fail because the whole thing seem so stupid to me. Obviously some people are making a heck of a lot of money at it right now, so what do I know? I do think that as soon as the faux-reality moonshiners TV show stops being popular and gets cancelled, which is bound to happen any day now (within a year or two, anyway), these products will lose a lot of traction.

Yes. I feel like I’m seeing more and more unaged corn liquor on the shelves. And that stuff is nasty.

It pisses me off that now everyone that makes high quality schnapps or artisan liquor is now lumped in with moonshine. Kind of like the new “craft beer” industry

More here

I had a customer huff and puff and leave about 5 minutes ago because I didn’t have the brand they liked, and I have 5 brands. Sickening.

It’s big here in WV. I just visited a liquor/wine store, and there were 5 people standing around a card table to the left of the register whoopin’ it up with 3 bottles of moonshine on the table. I asked my rep what it was, and he responded it was Hatfield & McCoy Moonshine, and it was one of the Hatfield’s pouring. I guess one of the Mccoy’s was pissed off they weren’t invited, so the store was worried there was gonna be some trouble.

Fk’n West Virginia…you can’t make this stuff up!

In Princeton, WV right now. Looks like I will be going out on the town tonight.

Once there is a WB forum called “Moonshine,” you’ll know it has arrived.

I admit to having bought a mason jar of this stuff made by one of those newly-legal “artisinal” brands after seeing Moonshiners. (Still entertaining even after you know it’s fake, kind of like “Airplane Repo”.) It’s actually quite good, a nice alternative to Bourbon.