Serious Cocktails: Moonshine in the Modern World
"... If you know how to distill, it makes drinking a much more interesting experience."
A big part of being an adventurous eater is the experience of DIY—of starting with basic ingredients and utilizing heat, time, a deft hand and a little salt to come up with culinary brilliance. (At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.)
As it goes with food, so it goes with drink. Home brewers got things rolling a few decades back, working with malt syrup and mail-order kits to undercut the hegemony of the big brewers with craft-brewed beers that went on to spark a microbrew revolution. Garagistes and other small-scale winemakers followed soon thereafter, and in the process helped inject creative talent into the American wine industry. But what about the harder stuff? Sure, there are small distilleries around the country, and some are doing great things—but these are still relatively small in number, and it’s a big, thirsty world out there. Where's the next round of innovation going to come from in the world of spirits?
In the current issue of Imbibe, I have an article on the current wave of home distillers, New Moon Rising. Growing up in rural Oklahoma, I’d always considered homemade hooch to be the stuff that had been distilled from fermented cattle feed, run through an old radiator and bottled in plastic milk jugs. That side of moonshine still exists, but what I found as I worked on the story and talked to home distillers across the country was that the homemade stuff is absolutely everywhere, and some if it is pretty damn good.
Here in Seattle I tasted some fantastic homemade apple brandy that was made in a kitchen in the residential Queen Anne neighborhood, along with a peculiar spirit based on boiled onions and brown sugar that, as it trickled from the still, had an odor that I initially blamed on the distiller’s elderly beagle. And in recent years I’ve had gins, absinthes, whiskies, and brandies in bottles that have taped-on labels fresh off the inkjet, and that ranged in quality from abysmal to ambrosial.
Helping this current trend along is that many of those now embracing home distilling come from the culinary world. Among the folks I talked to for the article were chefs, bartenders and restaurant workers who are applying the curiosity and experience they bring to their profession to their hobbyist work with a still. As Matthew Rowley, a fan of artisanal liquor and the author of Moonshine! said for the story, “They try to personalize it and create a flavor that suits them […] There’s a great appeal to learning the process—it’s like if you know how to cook, you can appreciate going out to dinner more. If you know how to distill, it makes drinking a much more interesting experience.”
Needless to say, distilling without the appropriate licenses and permits is illegal, period, virtually everywhere except New Zealand. That said, who’s with me? Have you been introduced to an interesting grappa or eau de vie at a dinner party, only to get a sly smile and evasive answer when you’ve asked about the brand? Or do you have a “friend” who keeps bottles of an extra-special and extremely rare whiskey on hand for when close friends drop by? There’s lots of fun stuff flying under the radar right now—let’s hear about your best (and worst) experiences.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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9 Comments:
Neat topic.
Yes, I have a couple of friends who make their own. One is a very potent but very good "Apple Pie" brandy (if you can handle the sweetness, I can't) and another who makes a grain and dried fruit whiskey better than the best shine I had in my southern youth by FAR. (And getting my hands on some of the dried fruit he uses in the making for my baking/cooking is a magical thing!)
I have not seen them make it, nor heard much about their set-ups for obvious reasons, but the one with the apple brandy is trying to get his sold to a company for wider commercial distribution.
I have wanted to build a still since reading the Foxfire series as a kid, and would still like to if I could. It is fascinating and I don't think reading about it will ever do it the justice of what I think making it would.
sadiepix at 5:54PM on 03/04/09
I'm a longtime homebrewer, and on some of the homebrew boards it is absolutely taboo for a US-based homebrewer to say anything that implies he or she is distilling at home, and even other methods of increasing alcohol content such as freezing wine and removing the ice crystals are discussed with trepidation. As the article points out, the penalties in the US are dire, the government takes distilling seriously, and the law does not provide for excuses that you're only making small, experimental amounts or that you're making a sweet cherry brandy rather than moonshine. There's a reasonable analogy between distilling small amounts for one's personal use and growing small amounts of marijuana. If your normally law-abiding self wouldn't think of growing even the smallest amount of weed for personal use out of respect for the law and/or fear of the penalties, you are the type of person who might also want to think twice before distilling. One might reason that distilling is sort of a harmless extension of brewing and winemaking that the connoisseur of fine beverages should logically be able to experiment with at home. But the US government doesn't see it that way. Homebrewing was specifically legalized in the US in 1978. No such law exists to legalize home distilling.
Lorenzo at 6:49PM on 03/04/09
I have a mason jar half full of some rather good moonshine from southern Oklahoma. i got it a few years back and it has a taste thats slightly sweeter than Jack Daniels. the individual who made the stuff unfortunatly has ended up in the pokey because of making the good stuff but, heck i guess one of these days he was bound to get caught.
dozertx at 8:10PM on 03/04/09
My local home brew shop had a class I attended at one point and the first thing out of the guys mouth was, "Want to try some of my shine?". Absolutely insanely smooth grappa 100 proof.
rockfish42 at 9:05PM on 03/04/09
Hey Paul, great article. I just read it the other day in Imbibe and am thinking about ordering a still. I might get evicted though -- not sure if it's a good idea to run one in a NYC apartment.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 10:52PM on 03/04/09
People still make it around my hometown in the South, and my stepmother, who oddly enough doesn't drink, can regularly be found with a mason jar of clear moonshine in her pantry. From my experience it can range from very smooth but potent to singe off your eyebrows. They ain't playin'.
Laurel E at 9:40AM on 03/05/09
I have some North Carolina 'shine, and some Everglades 'shine. Both are pretty damn tasty!
Oh, by the way, check this:
http://www.journalpatriot.com/fullstory.asp?id=1142
1stmakearoux at 10:10AM on 03/05/09
If you are brewing your own hooch, the best type to use are made out of stainless steal stock pots and are water cooled with small water pumps. You can pick them up on ebay and they work great!
retroburger67 at 10:14AM on 03/05/09
Awesome post, thank you!
My parents' carpenter in upstate NY, an Armenian fellow, makes his own vodkas all the time. Apparently it's pretty good, though I've never tried it.
All the farmers around our house in Provence make their own. Many of them own legit distilleries, as growing and distilling lavender essence is a big part of local tradition and commerce. I remember as a kid going to visit with my parents and being creeped out by all the big glass bottles of various boozes on shelves in their kitchens, all with different kinds of their fruit floating in them: cherries, plums, apricots, almonds, walnuts, etc.
Our neighbor is an AOC winemaker who makes Marc de Provence with his pressed grapes, a clear and clean firewater like grappa, and also an aged in oak variety that is smooth and sweet like Armagnac. It's my favorite stuff to drink, hands down.
simon at 2:37PM on 03/05/09