Moonshine

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Callisto in NC

Washing Up
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
3,101
Location
Mooresville, NC
So I moved to the south where this illegal brew is supposed to flow like water. But I've not yet met anyone who knows anything about it. So I am curious, have you tasted moonshine? Is it really that strong??? Does it really taste like gasoline? I'm really curious. I thought after four years here I'd at least of had a sip of the stuff.
 
That's one of the persistant myths of the south. It really depends on where you live. Many NC cities are no longer the South of Yore. Moonshine is more plentiful in the most rural areas of the mountains. It is still illegal so you have to know someone. I personally have not had any. I suppose if offered some I would have to taste it but I am not a hard liquor type of person. There was a PBS special on Appalachia and moonshine shown recently. Billy Ray Cyrus was the host. It was quite interesting. They showed a whole lot of the whole culture of Applachian mountain people. Very informative.
 
moonshine is like everything else. There is good shine and bad shine.

I am lucky enough to get to drink some shine every so often. It is from a good distiller, very tasty. No, it doesn't taste like gasoline. The shine we get is slightly sweet with a touch of tequila flavor. It will knock your socks off, what we get varies from around 95 to 120 proof and it is clear as water.

Good shine is a real treat.

Unfortunately I have also tasted bad shine. That stuff makes gasoline taste good....
 
Actually have never had shine but have been to Scotch distilleries and have tasted the distillate, before it has been aged in casks.

Freshly distilled booze, that is what shine is.

And it is nothing I would recommend to anyone.
 
My dad, who grew up in Iowa farm country, had his share of corn liquor, (that's what moonshine is), and he said it really had no taste. It just burns going down.
 
make no mistake, shine is still a big business here in NC and not just in the mountains.
I've tried 4 different still products, and 3 of them were worse than gasoline!

The other.... heaven! The moonshiner had been making it for more than 40 years, and
he gave me a pint of cherry and blueberry shine.

Without a doubt, it was the best tasting liqueur of its kind I have ever had. Smooth, subtle and sooo flavorful.

Back to the other stuff... it was scary, filtering it through an old T shirt, and it turned the shirt black... 3 times!
 
What Jeff said.

From WV originally and now live in KY... it's around. The good stuff is very potent and tastes like a high quality tequila. If you don't much of a tolerance, it will do a number on you... but the better stuff I've had seems to be clean. Not a bad hangover, that's typical with trash liquor.
 
I got my hands on some stuff made from fruit rather than grain, and I can tell you it had a delightful palette, a nice floral bouquet, and a lingering afterburn (thank you, Monty Python:LOL:).

Never again.
 
Why is making moonshine still illegal if you have all these hobbyists making their own beer, wine, brandy......? If you don't sell it would it still be illegal?
 
No, it is illegal to even distill it for your own use. HOWEVER there are 3 makers that took the time and expense to get licensed and they sell honest moonshine commercially.

Morgantown, West Virginia
Payton Fireman makes Mountain Moonshine spirit whiskey and Mountain Moonshine Old Oak Recipe in Bo McDaniel's old auto repair garage.American Whiskey: West Virginia Distilling Co. - Mountain Moonshine


Summersville, West Virginia
Rodney Facemire's distillery is (a very small) part of his Kirkwood Winery. He makes white brandy (grappa), Southern Moon white corn liquor, and white Isaiah Morgan Rye Whiskey.American Whiskey: Isaiah Morgan Rye Whiskey; Southern Moon Corn Liquor

Culpeper, Virginia
Chuck and Jeanette Miller have been making Virginia Lightning and Copper Fox here since 1989. Now they're being featured on public television and The History Channel and gearing up for visiting tourists. American Whiskey: Belmont Farms of Virginia - Virginia Lightning; Copper Fox
__620wide.jpg
 
I've been to two out of three of those W VAs.... imagine that :)
 
Wow, I pass through Summersville and Morgantown on my way to my aunt's place in Seven Springs. May have to check it out.

My tolerance is pretty high, I'd be interested to see what moonshine would do.
 
Hey Callisto, what area of NC are you in? I can assure you there is plenty of homemade shine around. Many times in the fall of the year it is made as apple or peach brandy and has whole apples and peaches in the jar. I grew up around the stuff and have hung onto a tree limb several times in younger years throwing up and having to push my butt hole back down my throat.:sick:
I have been to many chicken stews and if you would look around and see 4 or 5 men off to the side standing around the back of a pickup truck, they are not trading hunting dogs. If you walk up and look in the bed you will almost always see one or more fruit jars sitting their. It is fairly plentiful in the Stokes County area of the state and as I said sort of a tradition at stews. I have turned up jars with lawyers, politicions and Superior Court judges.
I just looked in my refridgerator in the basement and saw 2 fruit jars on the bottom shelf with peaches and a sip or 2 left in them. Eating the peaches or apples from this can put you on your knees. LOL! Most of the brandys come in quart jars and is available by the case so you can hand them out to friends at Christmas. Most of the plain clear is in half gallon jars and is good kept in the freezer.:rolleyes:
Just had to jump in here after seeing this thread. Brought back so many memories, or ones that I can remember!!!:wacko:
Hope you get to try it sometime. Good homemade is much better than that store bought clear.

Hooz:cool:

Oh, bought a half gallon of clear about a year ago and paid $20.00. And by the way, if you get offered a drink, turn up the jar and drink it straight from there. Bad manners to pour you a drink in a cup. Believe me, no germs on the jar.:ROFLMAO:
 
Last edited:
Plum brandy and blackberry brandy - mighty fine stuff. The fruit is dangerous! :ermm:

Our state motto:

North Carolina, where the moon comes over the mountains in gallon jugs
 
Last year, my husband had two friends from Charleston, SC make the crossing in the boats from FL to MX. They brought us a little gift...moonshine with cherries. It is delicious to sip (only a little at a time) but it is potent. We still have the jar in the freezer on the boat. We share it every once in a while, it'll probably last us a another couple of years. :cool:
 
Back
Top Bottom