 sj |
||
|
||
Folklore: Moonshine
Related thread:
Folklore: Moonshine (2) (30)
|
|
|
Subject: Moonshine From: Jim Dixon Date: 05 Dec 00 - 08:02 PM "I've been a moonshiner for many a year . . ." I know moonshine/poteen/white lightning has a prominent role in folk music, but I had always thought moonshine itself was pretty much a thing of the past, as obsolete as the buggy whip, now that nearly everybody can afford the storebought stuff. So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I attended a party that was also attended by some Asian-Americans and one of them produced a bottle of homemade hootch. He called it "whiskey" because he didn't know any other English word for it - I don't remember what he called it in his native language - but it was made from rice. It had an aroma and taste that was very much like saki, which I have had in Japanese restaurants, but this was stronger, having been distilled. It looked like vodka, and was about as strong. It was in an unlabeled bottle, naturally. It was served in small glasses, a shot at a time, at room temperature, and tossed off at one gulp. I have tasted some exotic liquors in my life - slivovitz, calvados, aquavit, ouzo, whatever I can get my hands on - but I have never before heard of a liquor made entirely from rice, and nobody ever offered me any moonshine before either. So this was quite an educational experience. Does anybody else know of any moonshining going on nowadays? Of course I will understand if you don't want to be real specific. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Bert Date: 05 Dec 00 - 08:08 PM Plenty going on in NW Alabama |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Allan C. Date: 05 Dec 00 - 08:10 PM Out here in West Virginia moonshine is still being produced. It is much harder to find nowadays but can be found if you know the right folks (not that I do, of course). I was somewhat surprised to find some "moonshine" being sold in Mason jars in the liquor stores that are run by the State of West Virginia. It isn't nearly as flavorful as the homebrew and doesn't pack as much of a wallop. But it is, well okay I suppose. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jimmy C Date: 05 Dec 00 - 09:02 PM Moonshine, Poteen, white lightning or whatever you want to call it, is plentiful if you know where to look. I once had 2 bottles delivered to a club in Toronto. I can get as much as I want when I go to a particular part of Ireland, it only takes about 15 minutes for it to be delivered right to your door. I should give a word of warning about it though, be very careful, make sure the distiller knows what he/she is doing or you could end up very ill or even dead.The stuff I get is made from potatoes mostly, with some burnt sea shells added to the mash for calcium. The distilling has to be through copper tubing otherwise all sorts of impurities can be extracted from the likes of aluminum tubing or other alloys. Treat this stuff with respect and do not overdo the consumption, it can be deadly. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Mountain Dog Date: 05 Dec 00 - 09:09 PM My grandparents had a farm and cabin in Fannin County, Georgia (a locale famous for moonshine and arguably the "Big Silver Buckle" in the Moonshine Belt of Dixie) from the 50s through the 80s and I can assure you that batches was bein' run a-plenty during the time they lived there. My grandfather found a still in operation on a back corner of his farm not long after they'd bought the place and came to know the shy but personable young man who owned the rig. (And, yes, Grampa did request that he remove the gear from their property, suggesting he might wish to investigate a new, and less hazardous, line of work.) Grampa said he was saddened several years later to hear that the shy young man had drunk himself to death on his own wares. I also remember asking my grandfather about the odd metal abstract sculpture that hung from the rafters of his neighbor's boat house up the river from their cabin. He walked down to the boat house and pointed to a hand-painted plaque that hung near the top of the loosely coiled copper pipe that served as the sculpture's focal point. It read: "Still. Dynamited 1970." My guess is, that in Fannin County at least, still distill still til this day! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: sophocleese Date: 05 Dec 00 - 09:24 PM Only two weeks ago we had an article in our local newspaper about a moonshiner. He's trying to make it legal, where's the fun in that? I had some very potent stuff on a trip the Soviet Union a dozen years ago. The first I knew of it was when another member of our camping group took a mouthful and spat it onto the fire at my back. I jumped up and away with great speed. Later in the evening I was told the recipe but unfortuneately cannot remember it now. DRAT! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Bill in Alabama Date: 05 Dec 00 - 09:58 PM Bert's right--there's a right smart of it down here in Alabama. Practically every time I teach my graduate folklore course, at least one student includes a moonshiner as one of the required fieldwork projects. I don't know any moonshiners personally here (to my knowledge), but I suspect that I could get some 'shine fairly quickly if I wanted to. Now, in my native East Tennessee, when I was growing up, it was not hard at all to find moonshiners. When I was a teenager, my idea of a thrilling evening was to ride through the mountains with one of the fellas who ran the 'shine into Chattanooga to the dealers. Back then, when I drank, I preferred the local brew, but, as Jimmy points out, it can be deadly, and we made it a practice to buy only from makers whom we knew personally, and who took pride in their work. Back in the 'fifties we could get a quart of it for two to three dollars. 'Most all of us who roamed the mountains hunting or just wandering knew the location of at least one still. I don't mean to make it sound at all glamorous--by the time I graduated high school I had lost two friends who were shot when they accidentally came up on moonshine operations while hunting (two separate occasions), and I have been shot at myself on more than one occasion. But I digress. To answer Jim Dixon's original question, YES white lightning is still around down south, and it ain't really hard to find. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 05 Dec 00 - 10:08 PM A friend of mine from Kentucky brings me a bottle every time he goes home for a visit. They are now producing a "yuppie" moonshine flavoured with peaches, grapes, peppers, lemons, etc to compete with the trendy flavoured vodkas. I usually pick up a bottle of poteen when I go home to Ireland for my Kentucky friend, and we do 'shine tastings! All the best. Seamus |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,Sheeaun Date: 05 Dec 00 - 10:41 PM The short answer to your question is: all over the place. But scarce and getting scarcer. Some old friends in the Appalachians still know where to get it, and it's got lots of proud local nicknames, like "North Georgia Squeezins". Puerto Rican friends tell me it's called "Pitoro" back on the island, and still available. Finally, back home in Ireland you can still get it illegally, especially in the West, and believe it or not Shannon airport duty free shop sells it. I know that may take some of the romance away from it, but the stuff they sell is indeed poteen. Slainte! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Sorcha Date: 05 Dec 00 - 10:47 PM Jim, I have a recipe for rice wine, if you are interested, and one of my books (Stillroom Coockery) has instructions for building a still,if you are interested in that!! hee hee hee.......... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Louie Roy Date: 05 Dec 00 - 11:06 PM Moonshine is still easy to find in Idaho but there is one thing if you are going to drink moonsshine you better know your supplier because all moonshine when distilled end up with a purpleiest film on it and this is called fuse oil and is deadly and if you drink this your next place will be with the undertaker.Moonshine must be carded and this is accomplished by pouring the entire batch through loaves of bread or wool socks.I saw a lot of moonshine made in the early 1930s and it can be made out of almost anything that will distill such as corn,wheat,oats barley rice.If you use friut you will end up with apple jack which isn't quite as strong but will take you on a trip. Louie Roy |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Sorcha Date: 05 Dec 00 - 11:09 PM Just had a thought--Allan C, you wouldn't tell a fib, now would you? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: The Shambles Date: 05 Dec 00 - 11:52 PM 'Yuppie' Moonshine? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Stewie Date: 05 Dec 00 - 11:52 PM In a thread about the jake walk paralysis caused by drinking jamaica ginger, Dale Rose posted an interesting link related to moonshine: The stuff Jim referred to in his first post sounds a bit like some homemade distilled liquor that a Sri Lankan friend of mine offered me years ago. It was colourless. I think it was some form of arrack - if that's how it is spelt - and I believe it was made from rice. We drank some three-quarters of a bottle between us over an evening. I returned home feeling fine. However, in the middle of the night, I went to the kitchen and drank a large glass of water. The return journey to the bedroom had to be on my hands and knees because I was unable to walk! --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Mark Clark Date: 05 Dec 00 - 11:55 PM Back in my ill-spent youth, I found myself stacking empty solvent drums out in the yards of the Ford Motor Co. assembly plant right near Calumet Harbor. We were on the night shift and in the winter the icy winds coming off Lake Michigan would just cut right through you. A co-worker lived in Jackson Co. Tennessee---it was common back then for people to live in Appalachia and drive up to Chicago every week for employment---which, as I understand it, is where Jack Daniels whisky is made. He told me everyone in Jackson Co. makes whisky and many of them are employed at the distillary. He used to bring up fruit jars full of some of the best whisky I can remember. Crystal clear sweet mash whisky made without placing the mash directly over the fire. They'd put a boiler drum over the fire and pipe the steam through the mash which was kept only in wooden barrels. The whole system was sealed and the steam was routed through a series of empty wooden barrels called thumper kegs to trap any particulates that might be blowing through. Then, of course it would pass through the coil and be condensed into whisky. To those people, making whisky was an honored craft and it sure went down easy on those bitter cold nights out in the barrel yards. He told me he used work as a deputy sheriff back home and now and then some producer would cut the price of his whisky. As soon as the word got around, one of the other producers would call the sheriff's office to report the fact that the offender was making illegal whisky and demand that the law take action. My friend would then call the producer who had been reported and explain that there had been complaints and that he would have to drive out later that day to take a look around. After the offender had been given time to dismantle his outfit and replace it with a bunch of junk barrels, my friend would go with some other deputies to bust up the still. This practice served as notice that the offending producer had best not lower the price again. I wouldn't mind having a taste of that product now. - Mark |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 06 Dec 00 - 05:55 AM On a couple of excavations I was on round Northern Ireland we had a site director who seemed to have knack for finding the stuff within minutes of arrival. We even got a delivery brought to us by school bus one day courtesy of the kind bus driver. Lovely drink. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: sledge Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:15 AM While working in Russia a few years ago a collegue of mine working a hundred miles or so to the north of me, found out how bad the bad stuff can be. A group of labourers got hold of some homemade vodka that had been made with very little care and attention and contained a massive amount of wood alchohol (methanol). Within two hours of the vodka being drunk the first person had died, followed over the next 24 hours by six more. My friend was able to offer little care as he watched them go blind and fall into the coma from which they did not awaken, we were unable to help due to the very strong blizzard that lasted for days. The ironic thing being that the antidote for methanol is ethanol (the good stuff) of which they had none. Most jobs on which I am employed where methanol is to be found now has a large bottle of antidote these days, usualy smirnoff. So I suppose that its a bit of fun but booze in the stores really is so cheap these days why risk it. Cheers sledge (not really a party pooper, as often witnessed in local public house) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: mkebenn Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:47 AM Had a lady working for me once who hailed from the hills of Tennesse. I asked her about 'shine and she said the only people makin' it anymore were the true artists who could make it better than store bought, just like anything else. She brought me a quart, yup, in a mason jar. Must have been 180 proof and tasted like the sweetest of well waters..earthy and potent..sigh Mike I can tell the story, I can tell it all, 'bout the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Dec 00 - 07:01 AM Moonshine or poteen (or poitin) really means anything duitilled illegally, and it can be made out of virtually anything, and varies accordingly. And like anything bought illegally, it can literally be poison. Potatoes, rice, barley, probably bananas in some places and times.
The legal poteen you can buy in airports and such is made out of the same stuff as some of the illegal stuff. But the essential ingredient for poteen is that it should be cheap to make and cheap to buy.
Poteen making in Northern Ireland is supposed to have boomed over the past 30 years, because the authorities had other stuff to worry about. As I've heard it a lot of the time, instead of traditional distilling, it's done using freezers to freeze out the water, which doesn't make for quality, but I suppose it's easier in a block of flats.
There a great book called In praise of poteen by John McGuffin - out of print in the States, but Amazon UK have some I believe.
And there a fine song about a poteen maker McIlhatton, which Christy Moore sings, which was written by Bobby Sands - it's not in trhe DT, but it's in the Christy Moore Songbook."McIlhatton was a well-known man in the Gklens of Antrim where he played fine music and was known to dispense fine drink."
Here's just a taste of it:
There's wisp of smoke to the south of the Glen |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Allan C. Date: 06 Dec 00 - 07:13 AM The Brazilians make a drink from sugar cane squeezin's called, cachaça (For those who want to know, that little thingy on the third "c" causes that one to be pronounced as "s"). Like many other moonshines, it is also bottled and sold commercially; but it doesn't tase as good as homemade. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,Steve Latimer Date: 06 Dec 00 - 08:18 AM I'm surprised that Newfie Screech hasn't shown up on this thread yet. How about it East Coast Canucks, is it still available and what exactly is it? I have heard that it is more like Rum than Whisky. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,Russ Date: 06 Dec 00 - 09:34 AM My grandfather lived in WV. He hunted regularly with an out-of-stater. The fellow was always after my grandpa to get him some authentic WV 'shine. By then my grandpa was no longer a drinker and was out of the loop as far as moonshine was concerned. He finally went to the state liquor store in town and bought a bottle of 200 proof pure grain alcohol. He poured it into a mason jar and gave it to his friend the next time he asked for 'shine. His friend swore that it was the best alcohol he had ever tasted, but never asked my granddad for another jar. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:07 AM ...probably the oldest practical application of chemistry known to humans, for medicinal purposes only, of course. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jimmy C Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:54 AM Steve, Newfie Screech is rum. Made and sold legally. The name makesit sound homemade and illegal but it is not. It is very good rum. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Steve Latimer Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:03 PM Jimmy, My understanding is that Screech was originally illegal and homemade. I heard that in the seventies a company capitalized on the legendary status of Screech and started to market a legal version that wasn't nearly as potent as the illegal version. Then again, I'm from Ontario and perhaps that's a myth. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: dorareever Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:13 PM Here In Northern Italy where I come from distilling Grappa and other stuff without license is quite common but nowadays people drink it at home,give it to friends bur rarely sold it or make alving out of illegal distilling.A friend of mine had some kind of contact with a potatoes hooch (think that was italian stuff not irish poteen or something)and drank it with honey and snow on the brim of the glass... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Mark Clark Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:28 PM The important thing to keep in mind about moonshine is that it is made entirely whole grains and that whole grain foods are supposed to be a major part of our diet. Yum. - Mark |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,Giac, not at home Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:35 PM Hadn't noticed it gettin' scarce. Pure as spring water and nearly as cheap. By the way, if it looks, tastes or feels oily, you don't want to drink it.
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Bert Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:46 PM I still have a copy of 'The Blue Flame' which is a book of recipies that used to be issued by Aramco in Saudi Arabia along with designs for making a still. The recipies used plain sugar as the main ingredient as it was considered safer than using grain. The finished product was called 'Sid', short for Siddiqui which is Arabic for 'friend'. So if you went to a party you brought along 'a friend'. In Alabama our local cab driver knew all the moonshiners and bootleggers. But, as has been mentioned above, a bottle of Everclear is so cheap that it's not really worth the trouble. Bert. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: paddymac Date: 06 Dec 00 - 01:01 PM It's usuaslly a matter of state law, but most states in US allow home manufacture of some amount of whiskey, wine, beer, etc, but strictly prohibit the sale of it. The state's interest, of course, is tax revenue. Folks who make it seem to do it as much for the joy of making as the joy of drinking. I suspect making it strictly for home use or gifts is diseconomic in most places. But, where ever you might be on the face of the earth, I imagine the lore of illicit booze is alive and well, tho the fact of it may be in decline. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jim Krause Date: 06 Dec 00 - 03:56 PM Yeah, I had an experience with honest-to-God moonshine about a month ago. We were at this blackpowder rendezvous in Illnois, my buddy and me. So, Saturday night, this fellow, named Whiskey Jim comes by our camp bringing a Mason jar, and his guitar. We start singing songs and fiddling tunes and he passes this Mason jar of clear liquid around. And you know what? It wasn't half bad. Would have been real good if it had been aged in a charred oak barrel for a few years. But like I said, it wasn't bad just straight out of the jar. Come to find out, that's how Whiskey Jim got his moniker. One of his hobbies is making whiskey. He doesn't sell it, and only makes a few gallons at a time just for the fun of it. So, he's technically legal. Jim Krause |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: NightWing Date: 06 Dec 00 - 04:18 PM Mmm-mmm! When I was in college, I had the run of the Chemistry building for several years. Two friends of mine and I tracked down instructions for building a still and, with all the old, unused glassware in the building, we had no problems putting together a very nice still in the attic. We were able to test each batch for quality, so we never had problems with methanol or any of the really nasty stuff. I remember we had to deal with the fuse oil (I think it's really called "fusel oil" or something) on our first batch, but once we had that problem licked we put out some FINE 'shine. We traded shine for corn from one of the local farmers, and took the rest to college parties. Been fifteen years or so by now, so I don't remember any of the details. But it was GOOD!
BB, |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: NightWing Date: 06 Dec 00 - 04:24 PM Which also reminds me that yesterday (December 5) was the anniversary of the END of Prohibition. Hmm, how would it be appropriate to celebrate such a WONderful day in history? *LOL*
BB, |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Kim C Date: 06 Dec 00 - 04:41 PM Still goes on in Tennessee. :) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jim Dixon Date: 06 Dec 00 - 04:42 PM Night Wing: I too had a friend in college who was a chemistry major and a lab assistant. He would steal the reagent ethyl alcohol right out of the supply room. The label said it was 97+% alcohol and the rest water, because, as my friend explained, it is very hard and expensive to remove that last bit of water. I think my first ever drunk occurred using that stuff - at least one of the first. We had to dilute it a lot, especially since we were inexperienced drinkers, but I understood NOBODY could drink it straight because alcohol that strong would suck the moisture right out of your throat tissue, literally causing a burn. Why steal the equipment to make a still, when you can just steal the alcohol? Or did you write it up as an extra-credit experiment? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: catspaw49 Date: 06 Dec 00 - 05:30 PM Because you can't duplicate the taste of good "corn." Jim, I can find 'shine being made within ten miles of my house here in southeast Ohio and on a trip to TN. and KY. this summer, a local friend of mine down there brought in some that was as good as you ever tasted. It was from Bill in Alabama's old stomping grounds in east TN. Real decent shine is an art an often passed on through generations and its as different from other whiskeys as scotch is from bourbon, so I imagine the market will always be there. Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Cobble Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:07 PM Dorareever, they are still making that stuff in Northern Italy ?? Some years ago we visited Italian friends in a small village in the Dolomite mountains, we drank home made Grappa, our friend explained it was made in the winter months when the village was difficult to get to because of the heavy snow. By the time the snow melted the Grappa was distilled and casked. Moonsine!!! Still feel the HEAD ACHE at the thought of it, very tasty though!! Mrs. C. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jimmy C Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:49 PM Steve, At one time it may have been illegal, especially during Prohibition, I know that booze was entering the states from the maritime region during the Capone days, I don't know if it was made in the maritimes or came from the caribbean and was channeled through, Newfoundland etc. I was once made an honourary Newfie. I was blindfolded, someone read a poem to me "Ode to Newfoundland " I think, then I had to kiss a cod fish. Newfies are great people, in fact all maritimers are. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Sorcha Date: 06 Dec 00 - 07:13 PM ATTN: paddymac, Jim K and any others interested--In the US making alchoholic beverages is controlled ENTIRELY by the Federal Government. It is legal to make up to 400 gallons US for your own consumption or to give away, but distilling ANYTHING including water, is illegal. It is illegal to build or be in posession of a still. Individual states have nothing at all to do (legally) with making alchoholic beverages, just with selling regulations. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Dec 00 - 08:17 PM Well, you don't need a still, a good freezer will do the job.
Screech and kiss the Cod, yeah, they do that in the Newfoundland St John's Campus we've got in Harlow, on the Herts Essex border. They call it rum, but it doesn't taste like any other rum I've tasted. Good stuff though. No shortage of Screech these days, I gather - but a fresh Cod is a lot harder to get. (Incidentally - any Mudcatters in Newfoundland know of students coming on a placement over here at the campus, who like the music, get in touch.)
The old lab alcohol. I hadn't thought of that for years. Beautiful stuff. Every college lab used to have a still going all the time, and it livened all the parties.
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Dec 00 - 08:19 PM Well, you don't need a still, a good freezer will do the job.
Screech and kiss the Cod, yeah, they do that in the Newfoundland St John's Campus we've got in Harlow, on the Herts Essex border. They call it rum, but it doesn't taste like any other rum I've tasted. Good stuff though. No shortage of Screech these days, I gather - but a fresh Cod is a lot harder to get. (Incidentally - any Mudcatters in Newfoundland know of students coming on a placement over here at the campus, who like the music, get in touch.)
The old lab alcohol. I hadn't thought of that for years. Beautiful stuff. Every college lab used to have a still going all the time, and it enlivened all the parties. That might not be quite the right word.
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Jimmy C Date: 06 Dec 00 - 10:19 PM Forgot to mention in my earlier posting about wild mint. I have had poteen with wild mint added to the distilling procedure, it taste like moonshine liquor, very nice but very potent. One bottle about 24 ozs, once made 11 musicians drunk. The next night before the first show , I decided to drink some water instead and got drunk all over again. How does that song go " Handle me with care " Hey, If you do get into any type of booze, remember this; ":
THE WISE MAN'S DRINKING TABLE |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: ddw Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:11 PM Somebody mentioned applejack earlier as a distilled booze. I thought it was made by making hard (fermented) cider, throwing the cask out in the snow and pouring off what didn't freeze — which I think is what McGrath meant by his comment that you don't need a still, just a good freezer. Haven't gone looking for any in Western N.C. in quite a while, but I was involved in a moonshining operation (as a driver) in the late '50s and a lot of the people who bought it could certainly have afforded store-bought stuff. They just liked the taste of good 'shine more than commercial booze. Which makes me think it has to be still going on around there. If somebody has a taste for something, somebody will always supply it. cheers, david |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Sorcha Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:15 PM Freezing is a very old type of distilling, one that was used in the Middle Ages to make brandy. Freezing is not illegal in the US, but "making of hard spirits" is.......oh well......just don't any of you put your home made wine in the freezer, now....... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: GUEST,lloraxl@aol.com Date: 07 Dec 00 - 06:10 AM So many of you respond that it's getting rarer and rarer. I have to disagree. I live in Chattanooga and friends here in the city (and several more in Knoxville) who produce the stuff on a regular basis. I don't think it's a matter of the availability of liquor so much as the pride and satisfaction of producing it yourself. I brew my own stout for instance and while I know that making beer is significantly different from making corn whiskey, still there is the sense of pride that comes with sharing a pint with your friends. Frankly, for the time and trouble I have to go to make it I can say that if it was just to have beer it'd be much smarter to go buy the stuff. I think the same probably holds true for poteen. Incidentally, my Knoxville friends usually drop a half dozen cinnamon sticks in the jar and let it sit for a few weeks. No, it isn't yuppie moonshine but it is very interesting stuff. Marc |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: Gervase Date: 07 Dec 00 - 07:00 AM Goes on in London too, or it did until a few years back. My father had a Hungarian friend who would relieve all the local greengrocers of their over-ripe peaches, apricots and nectarines which he would use as the basis for the most wonderful and potent peach brandy - using a Liebeg's condenser bought from a lab supply store (which made me wonder how many other people bought Liebeg's condensers for nefarious purposes, and why the government never got around to licensing/banning them). |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: dorareever Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:33 AM They still (no pun intended :-) ) make it I think...but gettin' a whole bottle if you aren't buds with someone who makes the stuff is kinda hard...nonetheless a good dram of it is often served at the end of a meal in little resturants all over the mountains...
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 07 Dec 00 - 03:58 PM "Freezing is a very old type of distilling, one that was used in the Middle Ages to make brandy."
Now that's something I'd never heard of, and it sounds interesting.
In fact when you think of it, they could have been doing that as far back as the ice age - maybe that's what finished the Neanderthals. Do/did the Inuit go in for this too? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: NightWing Date: 07 Dec 00 - 05:11 PM lloraxl, That's got it exactly. I make homebrew, too. And sharing a bottle or a case with friends is a very sweet triumph, especially when I hit a REALLY good batch. Heck! That's why I usually bake my own bread. But I have to disagree with the people who suggest that it's cheaper to buy commercial beer/whiskey/etc. While I never kept track of the cost in my distilling days, I have actually kept a strict record of every penny I've spent and every hour I've worked at brewing beer. From the fourth batch on, making my own beer was cheaper than buying a decent, but inexpensive beer (not the American commercial crap [Coors, Budweiser, Michelob, and their ilk], but a good local microbrew) if I ignored the time I put into it. If I figured my time being worth something (if I remember right, I calc'ed it at 1.5 times the US minimum wage, or about $7 or $8 per hour), I broke even after my eighth or ninth batch. It's considerably less expensive to make your own than to buy somebody else's product.
BB, |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Moonshine From: ddw Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:39 PM Here in Windsor we have several "Brew Clubs" and some "brew pubs" around town. The clubs allow you — for a nominal fee — join and brew your own beer. Some offer winemaking as well. I tried it a few years ago and made several batches of GOOD stuff. They have brewmeisters who, when you tell them what kind of beer you want, can tell you exactly what mixture of hops, malt, etc. to put in, how to fire it in the cauldrons and everything else you need to know. You pay for the materials. Once it's brewed, you put it in kegs and they store it for a couple of weeks, then you go back and bottle it. The cost is considerably less than buying commercial, but it got to be a big hassle storing the bottles, washing them for the next batch and having to dedicate two Saturday mornings to the process — one for brewing and one for bottling. I just found a brand I liked and went back to buying it. david Oh, the brew pubs make their own on the premises and sell it there — usually only in draught form only. Don't go to bars much any more so I've never tried one, but I'm told some are pretty good. |
| Share Thread: |