I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of brewing your own alcohol, but have for various reason never attempted to brew or create pickled vegetables.  Not that they are even remotely related, but they both require some skill and knowledge of fermentation.

Moonshine is one of the “ancient” homemade American creations – perhaps ancient is slightly overrated as there’s very little ancient about the US given it was only established in 1776 and anything remotely ancient was driven out.  However, as a result of the war of independence, and the desperate need to get money into the country, a new tax was introduced on liquor.  And in true revolutionary spirit home brewing was born in the US.

Or, as they would say in Jurassic Park – bingo, Moonshine DNA!

Moonshine has been mainly created in Kentucky, Virginia, the Carolinas and other southern states – and in recent years there has been some interesting documentaries about moonshiners and I also saw “Lawless” the other day which glamorises the bootlegging industry … and all this makes me want to try moonshine.

Not the cheap high street commercialised low % stuff, but the real stuff brewed in the mountains and/or forest – illegally of course 🙂

So, you can imagine how excited I got when I finally managed to my hands on a few jars filled with the clear gold.  And I didn’t question the legality of these jars, but then again, I never actually met the seller.

After having ordered the two jars I was positively surprised when suddenly a black plastic back was left for me, with two jars, on my desk.  No trace of a receipt or finger prints.

This was so awesome!  They were actually delivered in mason jars 🙂

I left the magic jars in the fridge for a few days; enough time to get the right temperature, before trying my luck (and perhaps life) by taking a few sips.

I popped a few ice cubes into a smaller mason jar and poured the liquid nectar over the cubes.  I gave a few minutes and then took my first testing sip.

My mouth was filled with a strange warmth and as I swallowed my body started to heat up from the inside.  A strange tingling sensation shivered all the way down my leg into the furthers corner of my pinky toe.  It was pretty obvious, this was the real deal and alcohol levels were well beyond the legal limits.

I’m fairly certain that I could clean the chrome on my El Camino back to life or perhaps even run the beast a few miles if I ran out of fuel.

Overall, moonshine is awesome.  It’s way better than an aged whiskey, but still doesn’t beat my Caipirinha.  I can’t wait to host my first BBQ of the year, with corn, shitload of meats and of course moonshine.