Moonshine - does it taste nice?

**Ian Gills** · 11-04-2011, 07:07 PM

Though I have never seen it nor tried it, I imagine Moonshine must be cheap.

But does it taste nice?

I buy liqour for the taste and not the price. But if it tastes good and is cheap then that would be a win-win.

And why is it illegal?

**jimbo** · 11-04-2011, 07:31 PM

Actual moonshine, meaning made in the hills under the moonlight, is illegal because the TAXES have not been paid on it.
To get an idea what it tastes like, stick an acetylene torch in your mouth. About the same sensation!

You can purchase "151" or "everclear" which are legal moonshines. See above for taste.

80 proof is about right for me....as in a good scotch, or some Jamesons on ice, or a belt of Tanqueray on ice.

**ballvalve** · 11-04-2011, 10:38 PM

Every Czech and Slovak family of mine has a still or the village has a pay per barrell still - no charge or tax for home use. Slivovitz [plums] or Jabolka [apples] and sugar are the base. Moonshine can be made to any percentage, but the best leaves a bit of flavour behind, and the smart put it up in a small barrell or use toasted oak chips. I buy a good french brandy with the pear grown in the bottle and then refill it with Slivovitz and a few oak chips. Give it a year and heaven results.

Go to a good liquor store and you will find 80 proof small batch stuff in mason jars. Use it as a base for flavoring.

Dry reishi mushrooms immersed in the cheapest brandy or vodka
for a month gives something amazing. And healthful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingzhi_mushroom

**Tom Sawyer** · 11-05-2011, 07:28 AM

Ian, making moonshine is about as easy as easy gets. Get yourself some corn, some sugar a little bit of yeast and have at it. Making shine is grand fun. Drinking it, not so much. It tastes well......nasty but it gets the job done.

**Ian Gills** · 11-06-2011, 04:40 AM

Time to take out the car radiator then...

**ballvalve** · 11-07-2011, 01:59 PM

Its okay now, as they are aluminum without solder anymore.

**Ian Gills** · 11-07-2011, 05:52 PM

Used car radiator...

**SteveW** · 11-07-2011, 06:58 PM

About 15 years ago I was interviewing for a job in a part of the country known to have a lot of moonshine makers. One of the doctors I was interviewing with told me that they would periodically get people coming to the ER with psychotic symptoms due to lead poisoning - the lead coming from the car batteries they had added to the still to get a little "extry kick"

**master plumber mark** · 11-10-2011, 08:14 PM

the stuff is crap and will kill you real fast

and that is ok too ,
if your goal is to drink yourself to death...

stick with the good stuff.

**BobL43** · 11-11-2011, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by Ian Gills

Though I have never seen it nor tried it, I imagine Moonshine must be cheap.

But does it taste nice?

I buy liqour for the taste and not the price. But if it tastes good and is cheap then that would be a win-win.

And why is it illegal?

Ian, back in the mid 70's, I was working at a place where we had an English guy who had the same question for one guy that had just come back from vacation in Virginia with a mason jar of moonshine. We all tasted it and basically just spit it out, but the English guy found it tasty and drank about a glass of it. What a guy!! He walked about 30 to 40 feet and fell on his face. Well we expected that, but why did he like the taste of it? Scotland produces some very fine juice which I find very nice. I used to drink it neat or on the rocks all the time when I was in my 20's, until I could not stand it anymore and did not drink it again until my 60th birthday party when the host asked me what I'd like to drink and to my own surprise I said "Johnny Walker Black on the rocks". Ahh! tasted good again.