MOONSHINE

[williamlayton]

Don't ask me why I am in this mood this morning I don't know.
I guess growin up in a small East Texas town had advantages--but you couldn't get away with nuthin without sumbody knowin what was goin on.
A bunch of us boys got ahold of some moonshine one time.
I twas Satuday afternoon and we was working up a party---you know---goin out tho somebody's old place in the coutry and spend the night---just growin up-I guess.
Anywho---I got a couple of fruit jars of shine in the car---roundin everbody up--makin plans.
I was down at the local---I digress, Polk County is/was a dry county--hang out drive-in---talkin up the party.
Watson Walker drives up---he is the County sheriff. He comes over and says to me---Williamlayton---yea its a real name and that is what I was called---I need too talk to you.
Yes Sir Mr Walker---what do you need?
Son---I know what you got in tha car!!!  UM-Er-well--YES SIR.
I know where you got it and from who you got it from.
Wel, er, UH.
Now, Williamlayton, I know about life an whats goin on. That ol boy sells some decent shine----but there is a lot of rotgut out there. He proceeds too give me a discourse on what bad shine can do. He is just talking too me.
Now you boys go and do your thing---don't be drinkin before you get out to the Parker's place------BUT----I would rather you boys just ease over to Trinity from now on and by you some beer or bonded whisky. I don't need the paperwork or sorrow from you boys dyin.
Now you go on and mind what I say--and have a good time.
You couldn't get by with nuthin even if you thought you did.
Blessings

[SHOOTALL]

seems like a good man.

[swordfish]

Those were the days.

[Tommyt]

I am sad to say that will never happen in the USA of Today

Thanks for sharing
wish I where there

Tommyt

[Swampman]

A great story!  Thanks!

[oldandslow]

I remember a deputy sheriff that was like that when I was growing up.

If ir were today you would have been surrounded by a swat team, yanked out of the car and thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and thrown in jail so quick you would barely have known what was happening. Then there would have been a big write up in the local paper about the hardened criminal that was taken off the street. 

[Dee]

I am sad to say that will never happen in the USA of Today

Thanks for sharing
wish I where there

Tommyt

Really? Haven't ever been to East Texas? My Father in Law "RIP" went to the pen TWICE for "Shine". Not for drinkin it (though he did), but for MAKIN IT. When was that you ask? Before there was a BATF, and Internal Revenue Service ran things in that dept.
I know folks that can still get good shine, and the local law most likely know about it. One only has to travell east a ways.

[Tommyt]

 Dee
 I meant the Cop to many Lawyer's
I keep some in the cabinet Imported from KY 
To be truthfully Honest He passed recently
His first career was county sheriff

Tommyt

[Tonk]

My wife's old uncle Fred used to operate a still some years ago and catch those catfish on the ST. Francis River too......in big nets. He could not swim a lick either. Well, I woke up one morning during a family reunion and saw him get some fruit jars out of his 53 GMC pickup truck. I was dumb as rocks I guess back then because I never knew anything about moonshine or ever saw or tasted any. Uncle Fred operated a little place back in the hill country of Arkansas, not to far from Hardy. He had lookouts and such just in case those T-men would come calling in the area. Folks in that area didn't take to City Slickers in the first place.

He told me it was for the tractor in the barn, ok I says and then a couple of old timers happened by and they went to the barn the three of them. I saw this one fella take the lid off that fruit jaw and start to drink a little, he choked and coughed and then said "Damn good shine Fred". Later on I asked uncle Fred how that stuff tasted and he gave me a sip, holy cow and jumpin beans, I never thought anything could burn like that but fire. He said it was 180 proof what ever that meant and that is the only time I ever tasted moonshine!

[Skunk]

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[Dee]

Dee
 I meant the Cop to many Lawyer's
I keep some in the cabinet Imported from KY 
To be truthfully Honest He passed recently
His first career was county sheriff

Tommyt

No misunderstanding Tommyt, I meant that the law KNOWS and chooses to ignore it, just as in the case of William's story. Sometimes keyboards don't make the operator clear on what he actually meant.

[kwells2006]

thats what the hills of Arkansas are good for... good ol' boys makin' their shine

[Redtail1949]

i used to go to the bootlegger in san aug once while there the sheriff shows sees us all sittin around drinkin and proceeds to get his cut of money from the bootlegger and leaves. all this at 10am on a saturday morning.


the big bopper met one time before he died at the ktrm tv station in beaumont. i believe if remember it right. my brother had one a 'JIVE AT 5" dance contest and J.P.  was there. oh it did not hurt that he was a distant cousin.

[slim rem 7]

 i actually like good burbon or rum..on a cold night it ll settle you dn an warm you considerable..considerably..im really thinking about a little fer sippin..
 that is unles you the kind that gets mean ,when drinking.slim

[Swampman]

My Great Grandfather Pappy Mac Jernigan was a song leader and deacon in the Methodist church.  He was also an inventor of sorts and could fix nearly anything.  When WW1 was over he got stuck with about 2000 mules that the Army no longer wanted and he lost everything.  My Grandmother remembered 2 men coming over one night with the recipe and the plans for a still, and talking in hushed tones with the papers laid out on the bed.  Pappy Mac built an underground still with just a little smoke pipe.  He also had a hollow tree with a spigot out in the woods where folks could fill their jug and leave the money.  Eventfully he got caught and spent a couple of years n the pen.  While he was there he learned to make license plates and he never bought plates again.  After he got out he was caught runnin' shine again (with homemade plates) and went back to jail.  He represented himself in court and told the jury that he had made the shine before he went to prison and that he'd already paid his debt to society.  They found him innocent and the judge ordered the sheriff to return the shine to the place where they found it.  When my GG Grandpappy died Pappy Mack carved him a tombstone out of solid TN limestone to look like laid stones with 3D ivy growing on it.  I've seen it in the old Jernigan graveyard that stands not so far from where all this happened.  Shine burns all the way down.  I had a little in NC not so long ago.

[SHOOTALL]

Spent 2 years in Franklin Co. Va. Many say it is the moonshine capital . If the wind was right you could smell the mash working every so often if you were back up in a hollar . I was told by those in the know the only stills broken up were the ones that missed a payment or two to the law. I saw a few on flatbed trucks that had been taken . One set up was SS with a 2.5 inch pipe comming off the tapping keg (condenser) they said it was producing 1200 gal every other day . One side note is if you bought sugar more than in 5 lb bags you had to sign for it .

[MGMorden]

I meant that the law KNOWS and chooses to ignore it, just as in the case of William's story. Sometimes keyboards don't make the operator clear on what he actually meant.

Unfortunately this type of law enforcement is the most dangerous kind.  When you have laws that are passed and not enforced, then people get used to it.  Pretty soon they ignore that law, and with that attitude they can outlaw a LOT of things that people eventually just ignore.  That law however is always there on the books, and it gives the government ammunition to use against dissidents or anyone they don't like.  I mean really: speaking out against the government or holding negative political opinions against those in office certainly aren't against the law, and they don't need to be.  We have enough unenforced and ignored laws on the books that almost EVERYONE is guilty of SOMETHING.  They're just waiting for you to do something they don't like so that they can charge you with it.

It'll never happen in my lifetime, but honestly, if a law isn't enforced universally and always, then it simply shouldn't be a law.  In this case I don't think homebrewing/"moonshine" should be illegal at all.  Sure you can get bad whiskey but you can also get bad fish down at the supermarket.  Let people decide for themselves what they want to put into their body.  

[Swampman]

The whole "bad whiskey" campaign was governmet propaganda.

[SHOOTALL]

Swampman that is not 100% true . Some money hungry makers use red devil lye , car battries , unclean stills , stills that depisit heavy metals etc in the shine . Some cut the shine with questanable water and other liquids . Some will put anything in the mash to make it work including letting animals die in it along with "stuff" that falls in . There was one maker that said his wasn't finished until he urinated in the batch.

[Swampman]

The government admitted to the campaign on a documentary I watched recently.

[gypsyman]

Had moonshine one time. I was 14 and with my dad, and we were over to a friends house. Had a quart jar, and let me have a sip. I know it wasn't for me. I'll stick to the store bought houch. gypsyman

[SHOOTALL]

Yes they did but they also said there was plenty of bad booze out there . If you note i said not 100% true not a !00 % wrong . Ferrum College being in Franklin Co. Va. seems to always have a few students that find a way to get some peach brandy , apple jack or some other local treat to add to their education but when i was there a couple got really sick on some rotgut stuff .

[kwells2006]

my uncle and grandpappy used to make it. tried it once... not a pleasant deer camp experience.

they've long since converted to mormanism (no offense) and tore the still up

[MGMorden]

The government admitted to the campaign on a documentary I watched recently.

Part of it was campaign and part was true, but the true parts have very little relevancy in today's society.

The propaganda came in in declaring that moonshine was inherently difficult to safely make.  It's not.  Take just about any weaker alcoholic liquid (while mash is preferred, beer or wine work just FINE for this and are both legal to make and consume at home) and heat it to between the boiling point of methanol and ethanol (ie, between 65 degrees and 78 degrees Celsius).  Have a large straight copper column coming from the top of your pot upwards a bit, and then have a copper tube coiled up running down from that to condense the vapor into a collecting container.

Anything that drips off between 65 and 78 degrees is methanol (or something equally unwanted) and to be poured off (though unless you pour stuff in it or SERIOUSLY mistreat the mix there is often very little, if any, methanol in your liquid to be distilled).

After you collect and pour off that stuff, heat the mix to between 78 degrees (the boiling point of ethanol - drinking alcohol) and 100 degrees (the boiling point of water).  Whatever drips out is pure ethanol.  Cut that with water to get your desired potency (40% alcohol/60% water is usually a good balance) and you've got moonshine.  Not hard at all, and can literally be done with a crockpot or pressure cooker and $15 worth of stuff from any hardware store.

(No, I've not done this myself, but both my grandfathers were 'shiners.)

The only reason there was bad stuff going around way back in the day was people doing incredibly stupid stuff like pouring chemicals into the mix to "make it stronger" or doing things like using car radiators as condensers.  Frankly anyone doing something that stupid is bound to kill themselves some other way anyways - don't randomly select moonshine to outlaw and punish the rest of us.

I suspect though that taxes (or the lack thereof) has far more of an impact on keeping home distillation illegal than any safety concerns.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  All this discussion of Moonshine, reminded me of a hunter my pal and his son hosted from Va....he brought the boys some peach moonshine.. something I never heard of or tasted. Had Tenn. white when I was a younger fellow, but this peach when served cold was some fine stuff... My girl friend thought it was pretty fine also.

[SHOOTALL]

WCH they make it with white peaches , grapes , cherries , plums , damsons , apples and pears to name a few . Eating the fruit will tear you up way more than drinking the liquid they tell me .

[williamlayton]

In those days--and in a dry county--he knew people wre going to do what they were going to do.
He kept a lid on things, weeded out the dirt and let folks live.
he was a good guy.
Ignoring the law was not ignoring the law, it was keeping the law and the folks in check. Saved on paperwork---and got him re-elected. folks were happy with him.
Blessings

[SHOOTALL]

Breaking the law ? If the shine crosses no state line is a lawful law broken ? Why is shine taxed but not homemade jelly ? If the law is not applied equal is it fair ? To ignore a law is saying you don't agree . If Jurys stopped returning a guilty verdic would it go away ?
 If you speed you are not keeping the law now are you ? There is alot og grey in the law

[MGMorden]

WCH they make it with white peaches , grapes , cherries , plums , damsons , apples and pears to name a few . Eating the fruit will tear you up way more than drinking the liquid they tell me .

It's about the same with "PJ" which is popular around here with younger guys because it's cheap to make.  Basically it's just Everclear (which is more or less 180 proof unflavored alcohol) mixed with Koolaid with diced apples, pears, and whatever other fruit you feel like thrown in.  It's usually mixed in a drinking cooler so the fruit doesn't pass through the nozzle, but if you decide to eat it later it tends to soak up the alcohol in the mix and will get you drunk pretty fast.  It's been years since I tried PJ though and I've never been much of a fan of it.  If I'm going to drink I typically like aged whiskeys - Scotch primarily followed by Canadian Whiskey.  Bourbon comes in about last (in the category of Whiskey - if we're talking spirits in general I can't stand Gin or Brandy, but after whiskey I can drink Rum, Vodka and sometimes Tequila just fine) but I can still drink it.  

Lately too I've found that a honey/whiskey mix is pretty good.  Drumbuie is a good classic Scotch/honey drink they've been making for years, but there's also a new Wild Turkey American Honey that is pretty good too.  A little on the sweet side, but it goes down far smoother than just the plain drink, and if you find it too sweet you can cut it with regular whiskey (1/2 Scotch and 1/2 Drumbuie is often referred to as a "Rusty Nail" ).

[SHOOTALL]

No that's nothing like peach brandy , that nasty stuff is purple passion ( a college party drink) . From what i hear the shine and fruit is a very mellow drink