What is Moonshine? and traditionally consists of corn meal, yeast, sugar and water. When it is first distilled all moonshine or whiskey has a clear structure. The whiskey that you buy in your liquor store is always aged for several months or years in charred oak barrels to get its darker color and mild taste.
What type of alcohol is in moonshine?
Moonshine purists define the spirit as a homemade, unaged whiskey, marked by its clear color, corn base and high alcohol content—sometimes peaking as high as 190 proof. Traditionally, it was produced in a homemade still and bottled in a mason jar.
Is Moonshine a whiskey or vodka?
Commercial liquor labeled as moonshine is typically one of two things: neutral grain spirits or unaged whiskey. … White whiskey, in other words, is different from vodka, but some of what gets sold as “moonshine” is legally vodka.
Can moonshine kill you?
Methanol has a high toxicity in humans. As little as 10 mL of pure methanol when drunk is metabolized into formic acid, which can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve. 15 mL is potentially fatal.
Is Moonshine a 100 alcohol?
What Is Moonshine? One big difference between moonshine and other liquors like whiskey or bourbon is that moonshine is not aged. The result is a distilled spirit that contains a high percentage of alcohol, many times greater than 100 proof (50%), like a white whiskey.
Is Moonshine stronger than vodka?
Physically speaking, there is no real difference between vodka and moonshine. Both are unaged neutral spirits, usually cut with water to increase volume and produce a more drinkable product. The difference is mostly geographic.
Can you drink moonshine straight?
Moonshine is traditionally sipped straight, right out of the jar. You can also drink it in shots.
Is vodka stronger than whiskey?
Is Whisky worse than vodka? Some researchers say that whiskey is more harmful than vodka, because it contains more admixtures (for example, essential oils, which are not removed after distillation). Scientists concluded that in excessive doses any liquor can be harmful, but vodka is the most harmful.
What is the difference between moonshine and alcohol?
Moonshine purists define the spirit as a homemade, unaged whiskey, marked by its clear color, corn base, and high alcohol content—sometimes peaking as high as 190 proof. … But “moonshine” is distinguished from whiskey by virtue of its illegal nature, rather than being a different type of alcohol.
Is store bought moonshine the same?
“It’s a term that’s generally applied to any alcohol that was made illegally. When you break it down, moonshine is really just a high-proof spirit. … No real moonshiner accepts store-bought as the real thing.”
Can moonshine leave you blind?
If you’re drinking moonshine, yes. … Today the most common cause of blindness from drinking is methanol. Methanol, otherwise known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, can damage the optic nerve and even kill you in high concentrations.
Why is it illegal to make moonshine?
So why is moonshine still illegal? Because the liquor is worth more to the government than beer or wine. Uncle Sam takes an excise tax of $2.14 for each 750-milliliter bottle of 80-proof spirits, compared with 21 cents for a bottle of wine (of 14 percent alcohol or less) and 5 cents for a can of beer.
What part of moonshine is toxic?
Methanol Toxicity
Methyl alcohol (methanol) is the bad stuff that could be found in moonshine. Pure methanol is very dangerous and it is definitely able to cause blindness and even kill people. As little as 10 ml of pure methanol could blind someone and as little as 30 ml could kill someone.
Is 100 percent alcohol possible?
Thus pure 100% alcohol will have 100×( 7⁄4) = 175 proof, and a spirit containing 40% ABV will have 40×( 7⁄4) = 70° proof. The proof system in the United States was established around 1848 and was based on percent alcohol rather than specific gravity. 50% alcohol by volume was defined as 100 proof.
What alcohol is 200 proof?
The proof is a scale used to measure the amount of alcohol in a liquor. The scale goes from 1 to 200. In the United States, the actual alcohol content, by volume, is half of whatever the proof number reads, so that a 200 proof liquor is 100% alcohol and a 100 proof liquor is 50% alcohol by volume.
Is Everclear moonshine?
Both Everclear and Moonshine are unaged spirits; however, Everclear is made from grain and Moonshine from corn. … Moonshine is a general term used to describe illegally produced corn whiskey. In summary, Everclear is intended to be water and pure ethanol with no flavor contribution.