America has flourished in the past thanks to men and women willing to take a risk. Moonshiners would hide deep in the woods to stay ahead of the law. Moonshine gets its name from these men and women making moonshine by the light of the moon. A moonshine recipe would contain a healthy blend of grain. The moonshiner would combine the grain, add water and yeast to make a mash. After fermentation the mixture gets distilled by heat. When it finally comes out the other side you have a clear, high proof, clean alcohol.
Surpluses of grain like barley, corn and rye in early America made it a perfect choice for farmers to make liquor.. In a time before regrigeration, high proof liquor would last better than beer that would spoil.
No barrel aging is what makes moonshine and whiskey different. Moonshiners didn’t usually have nice new barrels on hand but they did have jars, so they would put their moonshine right into the jars. People call it White Dawg, White Whiskey, White Lighting, Hooch, Mt. Dew Ect.
Moonshine was illegal because the government wasn’t getting their tax. The United states had a liquor tax as early as George Washington times. Coming off a war with England the United States had a huge debt to repay. The whiskey tax was enacted to help raise funds to pay these debts. A lot of distillers were pretty mad about this new law and they refused to pay. This was known as the whiskey rebellion. It never came to violence but it was close. The message was clear stop making moonshine or go deeper into the woods. The more remote your operation the better for you not to get caught by the law.
Prohibition revived moonshining in a huge way. Underground distillers worked day and night to keep the liquor flowing. Some even teamed up with organized crime. After prohibition moonshining declined but never really went away.
When you are drinking moonshine you are drinking a bit of history, every family at some point i am convinced made moonshine at one time or another. It was a way of life during a very wild untamed, uncivilized time in history. It was a way for families to survive and even thrive.
The American spirit is strong with moonshine, in the past and even now in modern times, people always find a way to bring moonshine to their events, like weddings, picnics, bonfires, barn raising you name it they have did it. Moonshine also makes an amazing cocktail, anything that you can make with vodka you can make with moonshine. There was also a lot of people that didn’t drink, but they didn’t mind drinkin a little hooch for medicinal purposes of course.