The literal meaning of moonshine is the light of the moon, but because the activity of distilling whiskey unlawfully was usually done at night with as little light as possible, the word became both a verb, meaning making the liquor, and a noun, meaning the liquor that was made. The reason it is done at night, and usually someplace away from houses and buildings, is that the distillation process requires heat to boil the alcoholic liquor from the "mash," so it produces a fair amount of smoke and steam, which can be visible for a great distance if it's done outdoors in the daytime. The fire can be seen at night if the still isn't set up inside a building or someplace where rocks and/or trees block the view, but buildings (and caves) are not considered as safe as outdoor locations, because in case of a raid by the authorities (or a competitor), any enclosure becomes a trap for the moonshiner(s), besides which, inside it there's not enough moonlight to see to work the still and bottle the output.
"Moonshining" means making the whiskey, and selling it is "bootlegging" it, although one person may perform both functions.
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Appalachia, generally the rural region of the Southeastern U.S. in the vicinity of the Appalachian Mountains, has a history of small-scale whiskey production as part of its culture. Some whiskey thus produced is of high quality, while much has a decidedly utilitarian nature.
The production of whiskey in this area predates the federal taxation of alcoholic beverages. The imposition of a tax on whiskey was considered an unwanted federal intervention and was largely ignored. The Department of the Treasury sent special agents -- "Revenuers" -- to prosecute unlawful distilling. While some distillers became legitimate, others did not, and many an agent and many a distiller died in the ensuing gun battles.
The grain used to make the mash -- which is the mixture of grain, sugar, water, and yeast that ferments to produce the alcohol -- is virtually always corn, so the product is "corn liquor" (= corn whiskey), sometimes called "mountain dew" because it appears overnight, or simply "shine." (The clear, potent (= high-proof) liquor is also called "white lightning" because of its effect, or "kick".) Today, commercial hog chow is often used, because it is readily available, buying it does not attract the attention of law enforcement, and it is primarily corn, but other corn-based animal feeds can be used instead, and differences in the other ingredients in the feed impart slightly different flavors to the finished product. Ordinary white sugar is often the chief ingredient of moonshine mash, in which case the spirit distilled is technically a rum rather than a whiskey.
The federal authorities who police moonshining are traditionally termed "Revenuers" because they work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which was part of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service until July 1972, when it became a separate bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury. (Recently this changed with the creation of the department of Homeland Security; alcohol enforcement has moved elsewhere)
Handling shipments of moonshine is often called "whiskey-running" or simply "running" it, by analogy to "rum-running," which originally meant smuggling rum by ship. The 1958 movie Thunder Road was about running 'shine.
Moonshine continues to be produced in the U.S., mainly in Appalachia and other parts of the South. The simplicity of the process, and the easy availablilty of key ingredients such as a corn and sugar, make enforcement a difficult task.
Sloppily-produced moonshine can be contaminated with toxins, mainly from materials used in construction of the still. Despite the well-known hazards, stills constructed using car radiators for a condenser are still used. The lead used in soldering these radiators ends up in the moonshine, and in some cases, glycol products from antifreeze used in the radiator can appear as well. Both are toxic.
Occasionally moonshine is deliberately mixed with industrial alcohol-containing products, including methanol and denatured alcohol. Results are toxic, with methanol capable of causing blindness.
Methanol can occur naturally in distilled spirits and is concentrated in the first few percent of condensate produced in a batch. Ordinarily this is discarded, though if ingested alone it may cause toxic effects. Like commercial beer, wine, and liquor, properly produced moonshine contains small amounts of methanol at levels that are not toxic.
No discussion of moonshine would be complete without a nod of the head to New Zealand, where privatization of tax collection duties has led (indirectly) to the legalization of home distilling. Stills and instruction in their use are sold openly.
History of moonshining in Appalachia
Moonshine production today
Product Safety
New Zealand
''See also: Bourbon whiskey
