MoonShine Idiots

[BrewTech117]

Ok So im sure this topic has been brougt up before .... but i ran into this last nigh...

Im sitting in a brew pub in a small town in Northern nevada (the only place with craft beer in our town) talking with a buddy of mine about the Cider im making at home, when a guy leans in and asks about it. I explain to him about how i home brew bla bla bla the cider im making etc. He replys

" Thats cool, why dont you brew the good s*** like I do, I make MoonShine!"

I just laughed my Arse off - HE takes me to my truck and wants to sell me some of his "Home made moon shine" which turns out to be just Apple juice and Everclear mixed in a mason jar with a cinnimin stick put in it. I know this ... he doesnt know I know this ..... I ask what kinda still he uses etc = and he says " A big Tank " .... Come on dude I was born in GA and my Great Grandad used to make this stuff for real (Not like the stupid TV Show) heck when we were kids we simulated a still with a Pressure cooker of moms.

Anyways im done ranting... What do you guys say to IDIOTS like this who think they brew MOONSHINE but yet have no idea about yeast, home brew methods, what kinda equipment is used etc..... So tired of these guys - I run into idiots like this all over Nevada (im sure they are elsewhere)

Oh and telling them its illegal to distill a whiskey just leads to made up clauses in the law that allows them to do so ..... because they are just that BAD A** .... WTF OVER

 

[Hammy71]

Yes, stupid people like this is why Maryland banned Everclear. Still not sure why a law was required, but hey...that's Maryland for ya.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/20..._1_grain-alcohol-estate-tax-income-tax-credit

 

[BrewTech117]

I want to find something bluntly to say to these idiots to prove they are just that - Stupid ....

 

[Cyclman]

Are BMC drinkers really much different?

Some people drink for fun, but also for quality, some just drink to get drunk. I feel sorry for the ones who like to get drunk but don't really enjoy alcohol.

I have had unbelievably good shine (lived in GA for a decade), made like a good bourbon, oak aged even. Then I had nasty, high alcohol garbage with fruit to try to conceal the terrible flavors. EdWort's apfelwein is so easy, high in alcohol, and delicious, if they only knew...

 

[jhoneycutt]

What he has is a version of what's called liquid apple pie around here. They use ever clear because in some areas is the closest they can get to good moonshine. Go ahead, ask me how I know lol.

Edit: and no I don't make moonshine, for real.

 

[ChelisHubby]

There is Idiots everywhere but in so-cal we cater to them.

 

[kaconga]

What he has is a version of what's called liquid apple pie around here. They use ever clear because in some areas is the closest they can get to good moonshine. Go ahead, ask me how I know lol.

Edit: and no I don't make moonshine, for real.

Yeah, I have even heard it called "apple pie moonshine" as if they were really distilling it themselves. I always ask how they distilled it and get a blank look. When I then ask how they made it they go on about how you take some everclear and blah blah blah. I know some real distillers and have been fortunate enough to taste some really nice shine. Also some really bad stuff too. Personally I blame the idiots on that moonshiners show, utter garbage and completely useless.

 

[Fionnbharr]

Sorry for the utter ignorance, here (but if y'all answer, I won't be ignorant, any more....).

What is 'Moonshine'?

Perhaps it's because I was born in the Northern city of Buffalo, but I thought "Moonshine" was a catch-all name for "illegally distilled spirits" -- so-named because it had to be made under cover of darkness -- and therefore dangerously made and adulterated with, say, paint thinner.

Is "Moonshine" an actual honest-to-goodness specific type of spirit?

 

[unionrdr]

It's distilled sour mash basically. Not always done under cover of darkness. My grandma used to make it, clear or keg charred. Man was that stuff smooth! I miss it for real. Some of the stuff I've gotten up here was OK, but just not as good.

 

[Bobby_M]

Even if you dismiss the specifics of what makes one distilled spirit a different name than other spirits, I think the main rant here is people that claim to "make <insert any name of distilled spirit>". For example, if you claim to make Vodka, you better not be opening up a commercial vodka and mixing it with something. Making a spirit means you run a still, period.

 

[passedpawn]

I was at my barbershop last month and some guy was in there passing around homemade whiskey (or similar, can't remember what he called it). It was in a mason jar. Turns out, he doesn't distill, he just mixes spices in with something he bought. I thought that was really odd, but of course as a homebrewer I have intimate knowledge of how this stuff is done and I know how easy it is to actually make it yourself. The others (including the guy cutting my hair) were genuinely impressed with what the jar contained.

 

[Qhrumphf]

My Russian friend's wife's mother (who is still in Russia) allegedly makes "moonshine" by using straight sugar and bread yeast. Or something to that effect. I've had it, and it's actually not as bad as it sounds. I wouldn't call it "moonshine" per se. But it's closer to moonshine than taking some store bought spirits and adding spices.

The one that gets me is the legal "moonshine" that's popping up now. To me, "moonshine" has always been illegally home distilled spirits.

 

[drainbamage]

Sorry for the utter ignorance, here (but if y'all answer, I won't be ignorant, any more....).

What is 'Moonshine'?

Perhaps it's because I was born in the Northern city of Buffalo, but I thought "Moonshine" was a catch-all name for "illegally distilled spirits" -- so-named because it had to be made under cover of darkness -- and therefore dangerously made and adulterated with, say, paint thinner.

Is "Moonshine" an actual honest-to-goodness specific type of spirit?

Think un-aged sour mash whiskey, aka "white dog".

I know several people who claim to make moonshine, but 95% of it is everclear blended with flavored schnapps, maybe some fruit juice, and spices. The only time I'm fairly certain I had actual moonshine was a few years ago at the neighborhood block party. One of the neighbors produced several mason jars of straight and apple pie-flavored 'shine from "a guy" he knew in Tennessee. I've sampled white dog on bourbon distillery tours, and this stuff tasted like it. It was actually fairly smooth and not just straight-up burning.

 

[jhoneycutt]

Nothing bought at a store is moonshine imo. Its always illegally made, and a sour/corn mash. Ive had it many times at family gatherings. In fact the liquid apple pie is a staple beverage at my familys Xmas eve dinner. And yes when done right its very good. When wrong it can kill you.

 

[kaconga]

I consider all illegally distilled spirits to be moonshine. I have had some distilled from wines and some from rice wines (similar to sake) that I still called moonshine. Though in mixed company we always just call it purified water.

 

[Zuljin]

I've had Firefly from the liquor store. It's not bad, but for the money, you can get better without the gimmickry. That's what the store bought moonshine is, really. It'd be like us selling home brew and claiming it had some better than the rest magical property just because we... oh, wait.

 

[MindenMan]

I did learn a couple of things from the "Moonshiners" show... bootleggers are not the distillers, they are the delivery system, and vice versa.
When I was young, as a chemistry experiment only, I fermented potatoes with a little sugar added. A couple of weeks later, I rigged a condenser to my mash bottle, applied heat through a double boiler, and the stuff that came out was like liquid fire, so I dumped it out. Who would drink that crap?, I wondered. Ahh, the ignorance of youth.

 

[unionrdr]

My grandmaw made the smoothest keg charred moon around. I cut teeth on it. My step grandad was a runner. It's in my blood. to drive like that.
All in all, this is how I feel about other's moon...

 

[BrewTech117]

Well I was referring to the "Kids" Whom are barely 21 walking around with a mason jar full of apple juice mixed with Ever clear - Here where i live its a small town and there is no way they are making moonshine unless they had half a brain - these kids are dumber than a box of rocks and think its "the good stuff" and it irritates the living piss out of me to listen to them talk about it.

Now home brewers are labeled as " Moonshine makers " weather we take it as a compliment or insult, its totally a different substance. The ignorance is what just shocks me. now if i sit talking with a buddy at a bar, someone over hears me talking about my Hard apple cider, and i get questions like " Is it hard to make shine " ..... WTF