Moonshine

Drinking some tennessee moonshine concoction tonight. Blackberry flavored. Im just really tired of dumping 100 dollar bottles of wine down the drain so i had this mason jar from when i visited smokey mountains last summer. Good stuff. No tca and it was not cooked either. Probably cost me $20. Im happy.

The best is something called “Apple Pie”. It is moonshine mixed with hard cider and a cinnamon stick. No TCA in that either. No methanol too if you get it from someone reputable. (I know that sounds weird given that moonshine unless bonded isn’t truely kosher with the feds) The best moonshine anywhere comes from the mountains of Tennessee.

I had someone gift me a unmarked, corked bottle of Apple Pie from Tennessee a couple of years ago. It’s still sitting unopened in my cabinet.

I had an untraditional moonshine made in the style of “eau de vie” from peaches. $200 per gallon and a memorable drink. The friend who bought it is trying to barrel condition a quart of it in a small barrel he bought.

I’m spending some time in South Carolina, evading the weather back home.

Here in SC the legal versions are picking up steam…so to speak.

http://www.thestate.com/2014/02/01/3239230/moonshine-operation-ready-to-go.html

I always thought that people bought and drank moonshine because it was cheap. After watching Moonshiners and hearing how much it costs, I have to wonder what the allure is. Why don’t these people just drink something legal?

Seriously, you can probably get a 1.75 handle of vodka in a plastic bottle at Walmart for under $10 where those guys live…

Really good moonshine is a better product than all but the most expensive legal clear liquors. Plus, you have the allure of it being something that is taboo.

I’ve got two mason jars of that Smoky Mtn shine in my pantry. One is full of cherries, the other is lemon. Was supposed to blow those out NYE, but totally forgot …

A lot of illegal shine is sold/produced in dry counties. So if it’s a 50 mile round trip to buy booze and you run the risk of it being confiscated as you re-enter the county, just buying “local” and illegal is cheaper than buying “foreign” and illegal. Also some kids around here produce the stuff to sell to other kids, which is illegal all the way around but makes it available.

The cherry is great for mixing.

Isn’t most of what is now on the market as “moonshine” just un-aged whisky or bourbon? More of a way for the craft distillers to quickly sell something and get money coming in? Seems like several of the ones I’ve visited want to make Bourbon, but it takes some time to get there. So they are taking some of their product and selling it un-aged and barrelling the rest (even selling some of that as “young” after short time in a barrel). A lot of them in order to get money rolling in and to cover expenses, and since they already have a still, are also making vodka and gin (basically take the vodka and run it through one more time with the herbs?).

Doesn’t bourbon and whisky require something malted, which is not required for vodka? Thus, as vodka should be a neutral spirit with little or no residual flavor, these moonshines impart some flavor characteristics from the mashbill and add character to mixed drinks that vodka might not? That’s the way they keep explaining it to me, and why some bartenders are experimenting with moonshine over vodka.

I toured a craft distiller in Arkansas (a state in which moonshine is not unheard of) and they said most of what the moonshiners are making is really more of a vodka because they usually do not malt anything. A craft distiller in Illinois basically said the same thing.

I’ve never distilled anything, so I may be a bit wet here, so any corrections is appreciated. But the whole legal moonshine thing to me seems an interim product intended to be a vodka substitute? Thoughts?

I’ve only seen maybe ten minutes of that show about illegal shiners but I seem to remember that they were just fermenting distilling SUGAR water, not using corn or barley or other grain, no?

Roberto,
I would say this is true(and so maybe more classified as a rum? ). Sour mash corn whiskey is basically corn + the back wash of a previous run with sugar and water added. The corn is for flavor.

If you are watching Moonshiners to learn about moonshine. Stop. That show is BS.

Some people don’t like the idea of tax revenue being made by the government, so it’s money out of their pockets when they buy shine.

[url][http://www.qualityliquorstore.com/moonshine-ole-smokey-apple-pie/url]

Now available nationally. Yawn.