Moonshiners

[triangulum33]

Watching this show and amazed that making moonshine is illegal. So friggin stupid.
If you cant tax it, outlaw it.

 

[bottlebomber]

I'm living here in northern California, and propose that my local politicians make a "Medicinal Moonshine" license available to patients suffering from chronic boredom.

 

[triangulum33]

Nice.

On the show they were busting "nip houses" that were selling and drinking shine. A plastic bottle of swill from the arab gas station is ok, but something made in someone's backyard is a federal offense.

 

[kosmokramer]

ill vote for that... shoot, were gonna have completely legal pot by the next election anyways. might as well

 

[triangulum33]

If they can say making shine at home is illegal, they could make homebrewing illegal.

 

[bottlebomber]

I can understand the logic behind wanting to be able to gather tax revenue from a business, no matter how large or small. But when someone is making something for their own personal use (unless its something along the lines of meth) it would be nice if we could have the freedom to do that. I'd love to try my hand at some Scottish style whisky.

 

[Daver77]

I think it's an old law that has no purpose anymore. Like a lot of laws on the books.

 

[bottlebomber]

If I had to live in Alaska and couldn't brew I would be PISSED... I guess I could learn to tan caribou hides in my garage..

 

[Pumbaa]

If they can say making shine at home is illegal, they could make homebrewing illegal.

You realize it wasnt that long ago home brewing was illegal right?

 

[triangulum33]

You realize it wasnt that long ago home brewing was illegal right?

No, I dont actually. I'm 37, and dont remember it being illegal. I've only been brewing a few years, though.
Was it a federal law? When was it changed?

 

[Pumbaa]

No, I dont actually. I'm 37, and dont remember it being illegal. I've only been brewing a few years, though.
Was it a federal law? When was it changed?

1979 . . . The only good thing Carter ever did . . .
Homebrewing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Airborneguy]

De-stilling seems to be getting much more popular. I know a few people who are getting into it already. Everyone said it would never happen, but I bet a movement is coming soon to get it legalized.

 

[rexbanner]

De-stilling seems to be getting much more popular. I know a few people who are getting into it already. Everyone said it would never happen, but I bet a movement is coming soon to get it legalized.

There's a small distillery in my hometown in northern Virginia now, and I never thought I'd see the day when that happened. VA is so bad for alcohol that they make Virginia Gentleman in Kentucky!

I've never had moonshine, but this guy I know said he hypothetically tried some one time and it was awesome.

 

[Misfit]

Shine really isn't all too great in my eyes. It's just cheap and flavorless except for a nice numbing effect

 

[boo boo]

1979 . . . The only good thing Carter ever did . . .
]

Well that and his brothers Billy Brew,

 

[boo boo]

Shine really isn't all too great in my eyes. It's just cheap and flavorless except for a nice numbing effect

Oh I don't know.
I have had shine made in Prince Edward Island that made its way here to the rock that was fantastic. Full of flavour.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Shine really isn't all too great in my eyes. It's just cheap and flavorless except for a nice numbing effect

It's like homebrewed beer. The general idea about it is crap and most people that make it, make crap. If it was legalized and more available, you'd see people making whiskey rivaling the big guys and soon we'd be talking about the BMC of whiskey around here. I'd probably try it if it was legalized, but am not a huge drinker of the hard stuff. I'd probably only make a few gallons a year and give most away.

 

[Airborneguy]

I don't know, I had some pretty good homemade whiskey recently. It was my first taste of shine. It even came in a mason jar (now filled with saved yeast of course ).

 

[motobrewer]

the show is interesting, but i'm wondering how much is "reality" and how much is "tv". i mean, Discovery is showing Tim run a lot of whiskey, how hasn't the ATF busted them yet out of principle? i just can't see how they're really allowing him to do that. and all the talk about him wanting to go pro suggests that he really is a pro distiller and the show is just a setup.

 

[bottlebomber]

and all the talk about him wanting to go pro suggests that he really is a pro distiller and the show is just a setup.

Are you suggesting that reality shows are rigged and scripted??

 

[triangulum33]

Yeah, I think the whole Tim thing is rigged.

The crazy old drunk Popcorn could be real, though. I've never seen them show where he is or much about him. Just him capering around his still.

 

[squirrelly]

I have yet to see the show, but I'm quite intrigued from what I've heard thus far. As soon as Netflix gets the show I'll be all over it.

As far as true moonshine goes its nothing I would ever drink. We studied a lot of moonshine stills that we're discovered by BATFE agents while I was going through the academy, and from the ones I saw they were darn near right up there with meth labs. Of course your average shiner is not stealing your phone lines and digging through your trash cans in the middle of the night to recycle the metals for his next nip of shine, but the stills were just horrifying. Dead rats floating in the mash, unregulated wild yeasts, equipment that never saw a day of cleaning or sanitizing. These folks had no regard for the quality of the finished product like home brewers do, but rather how strong it could be and a profit yield. Keep in mind these were not hobbyist distillers, but rather people who mixed sugar and water to yield the highest alcohol content. Few would mash with corn to extract the sugars, but most would use sacks of sugar because it was cheap and could provide the largest profit.

I don't even think prior to '78 homebrewing beer was ever based around simply making an illegal profit. While the unavailable ingredients forced brewers to improvise and use malt extract from grocery stores and baker's yeast at least some thought was taken into account for quality.

I understand the frustration with the over taxation and the trampling of our freedoms to make distilled beverages, and I'd love to see a time when one day we can walk into our local homebrew shop and buy a distillers kit. I think first I'd like to see some of the remaining stipulations around homebrewing lifted. I just don't see in a time when my neighbor's 5 year old daughter was cited and taxed for setting up a lemonade stand in her front yard without a small business license that distilling will be legalized any time soon.

 

[Gear101]

popcorn is the man

watching them brew the stuff up just makes me laugh, using sticks and old then hell worms.. LOL

and good moon shine taste great, IMHO

Is that not where jack d got its start from.

 

[Misfit]

It's like homebrewed beer. The general idea about it is crap and most people that make it, make crap. If it was legalized and more available, you'd see people making whiskey rivaling the big guys and soon we'd be talking about the BMC of whiskey around here. I'd probably try it if it was legalized, but am not a huge drinker of the hard stuff. I'd probably only make a few gallons a year and give most away.

I have had plenty of shine. I went to college in the back woods of southern Virginia. I even ran my own still for a while. There is a reason why most whiskey made is aged in barrels. The barrels are what imparts most of the flavor.


Also id say 90% of the shine is just plain sugar wash. Nothing more.


Oh and popcorn was the real deal. Back in 2009 he took his own life after being sentenced to 18 months.

 

[motobrewer]

my neighbor's 5 year old daughter was cited and taxed for setting up a lemonade stand in her front yard without a small business license that distilling will be legalized any time soon.

there is nothing you can say or show me to get me to believe this. aside from the actual citation. actually, probably not even...

 

[squirrelly]

I'd love to provide a pic of the cite, but my neighbor is out of town for the holidays. It is my understanding that he just paid the fine and that was the end of it rather than trying to fight it in court. The tough part was telling his little girl she couldn't sell lemonade on the front lawn, and she didn't understand what she had done wrong. The biggest problem I had with this was the city PD officer treated the little girl like a common white collar embezzler only talking to her father after a five minute interrogation and lecture. I know, it's unbelievable.

 

[stevea1210]

All of the footage of popcorn is from old documentaries that were made of him prior to his suicide. Popcorn is a very interesting guy, but I kinda have a problem with them mixing the footage in almost like it was new footage like the stuff with the feds and Tim and tickle.

I love the show, but also wonder if Tim didn't already get his distinlling license. I just find it hard to believe that this much info is being showed about them without the feds busting him. Hell the fed even was chatting with Tim's brother at the local kwik-e-mart.

Part of me thinks they are only producing water at the still site. You can't tell if it is shine or water. Sure they have the mash, and that looks legit, but there is nothing illegal at that point. Also even if the equipment is technically illegal, as soon as Tim got his license, it would be legal for him to own it.

All that being said, I love the show...and tickles busted ribs were definitely not faked.

 

[stevea1210]

oh yeah, I also don't believe for a second that the guys that are picking up the shine from the still site would hang out for a second once they saw a video camera.

 

[bottlebomber]

there is nothing you can say or show me to get me to believe this. aside from the actual citation. actually, probably not even...

I'm struggling with it as well...

 

[brewingmeister]

Posted this in the other moonshiners thread...

The best part of show are the exerts of popcorn from 'The last run' and tickle's drunk ass.

If you want the real story behind the show look here:
http://firecritic.com/2011/12/09/fire-chief-tim-smith-stars-in-show-about-moonshiners-in-virginia/

-cheers