My Pruno Experience

Figured this would go best in the cider forums. I'm treading lightly, as I know the subject draws the ire of some. This is just my account of watching the "art" of pruno production and my opinion on the taste. For those of you that don't know, Pruno is an alcoholic beverage produced by inmates at institutions of incarceration.

About 8 years ago, I had the privilege of receiving my second drunk driving arrest, which landed me in a very unpleasant place, the county jail, for about 3 weeks. During this time, I witnessed the time honored process of prison booze making, and tasted a few ounces of the end product.

The process is as follows: Lots of apples, oranges, jelly packets, and anything else which had any amount of sugars, were saved up by a group of inmates. A trash bag was liberated from the supply closet and filled with chopped fruit, the other stuff, water, drink mix powder (artificial sweetener), and about 5 slices of wheat bread. The batch was probably 3 gallons. The bag was hidden in the rafters for about 10 days, then the liquid was strained through a clean T-shirt.

The product: Dark red fruit punch with a still active fermentation going. Sparkling. Probably about 5% alcohol. Warmed my throat and tasted decent. Didn't want to become indebted to the guys making it, so I only had a few sips to try it out. Hope this isn't too taboo, just relating an experience.