A Brief History of Moonshine

The history of moonshine is long and interesting, beginning in the 18th century, rising to its peak popularity in the 1920s, and continuing up until the present day.

The practice of creating moonshine began in England in the 18th century and quickly spread to the US. For the first 200 years of its consumption in America, it was not illegal to produce moonshine, and issues surrounding the taxation of moonshine played a role in the American Revolution and Civil War.

The knowledge needed for moonshine production was brought to America by Scotch-Irish immigrants, who settled in insular communities near the Appalachian mountains. Moonshine became increasingly popular in these communities and was traded to other areas for profit.

After prohibition came into effect, moonshine exploded in popularity. Because moonshine is higher in alcohol content than beer or wine and is manufactured at a smaller scale than other forms of alcohol, moonshine was a comparatively cheap and convenient way for people to get a drink when liquor was illegal.

Many people began creating their own pot stills and boiling still, either to drink the product themselves or to sell. Some were small setups put together in people’s basements, and others were large operations meant to create an industrial output.

The prohibition age was key in bringing moonshine into the public’s imagination and exposing more people to it. After the 21st amendment passed, repealing the 18th amendment and putting an end to prohibition, moonshine declined in popularity as people regained easy access to more traditional kinds of alcohol.

Producing moonshine in your home is still illegal to this day, and in 2010, a law operation apprehended members of an organization that had brewed over 1.5 million gallons of alcohol. The moonshine trade is still alive and well.

There are even brands that market legally produced moonshine to consumers worldwide, and pot stills that produce moonshine are available for purchase online.

During its history, moonshine has evolved, both in its ingredients and the way moonshiners produce it, and the 1920s had a unique style of moonshine that differentiates it from today’s moonshine.

Because so many different brewers were producing so much moonshine during prohibition, there was more variety in the ingredients than before or after.

This increased production meant they used all sorts of fruits like prunes and apricots on top of the usual moonshine ingredients like rye, corn, sugar, and yeast. These differing ingredients produced a less consistent flavor, meaning people in the 1920s got to try lots of different flavors of moonshine.

Many brewers realized part of moonshine’s appeal was the kick you get when you drink it, which led many brewers to add a variety of unique ingredients designed to amplify the kick. These included many poisonous materials, such as embalming fluid, paint thinner, and even manure.

However, because many brewers were novices, the most common recipe was the same as it is today: cornmeal, sugar, yeast, and water. 

Moonshine is extremely strong and can be as high as 150 proof, making it around 75% alcohol, nearly twice the strength of your typical liquor. The high alcohol content is part of what makes moonshine so dangerous.

But in the 1920s, many other factors made moonshine dangerous. The brewers’ inexperience caused them to fail to separate off the methanol – which can cause blindness – from the ethanol (also known as alcohol).

Other mistakes (or the intentional addition of dangerous ingredients) caused the brewers to make poisonous moonshine, the consumption of which resulted in many deaths. 

Information source:  History of Moonshine and Prohibition in America - Winning Homebrew (winning-homebrew.com)