Ever tried 'the hard stuff'?

sidevalve

sidevalve

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Just wondering if anyone has ever tried any home distilled spirit - moonshine - puchine [the irish variety not sure how to spell it] or any of the others - every country seems to have it's own 'brand'. Mostly these are illegal to brew so no recipes maybe but just has anyone ever tasted them. I tasted some a friend made a few years ago - almost tasteless actually but insanely alcoholic. Prefer a good beer myself.
 
Never tried it and have no wish to either. The problem with a lot of moonshine is that it is so dangerous. It can make you go blind and even kill you. Thats an excellent reason for it being illegal I think.
 
welsh dragon said:
Never tried it and have no wish to either. The problem with a lot of moonshine is that it is so dangerous. It can make you go blind and even kill you. Thats an excellent reason for it being illegal I think.
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TBH I believe that the true reason it is illegal is more to do with the fact that duty hasn't been paid than any kind thoughts on the governments part. Also, like many things that are 'not liked' by the establishment it is in their interests to both stress the dangers and highlight any accidents that do occur. Very large quantities of such spirits are brewed all over the world and one hears very little of hundreds of blind people wandering the countryside. I also suspect that more people have died from food poisoning in the last ten years than from moonshine [and I doubt if it would be 'hushed up]. Distilling is neither difficult nor complicated but if we wish to pretend that such things are only for half mad half blind hillbillys so be it.
 
I've had Pootcheen, "delivered" in a pub, along with some shopping.
Agree about the taste, its almost not there.
I've some, somewhere, in a bottle, brought back from the West of Ireland.
 
Never tried it but I may if I was ever somewhere that it was made.
It is just not something that is made in my area and I really know
little about it.
 
I've had palm wine in Eritrea. It's called douma and it is a pretty potent brew. I've also had toddy in Sri Lanka, but that was aimed more at the tourist market.
 
"Lawless" is the closest I have come to any moonshine anything except the actual moon shinning brightly last night. My husband would be more interested in this thread. I'm sure he would not mind me trying anything hard. He is a fan of distilled spirits.
 
I tried moonshine once when I was a kid as my friend's grandpa used to make it by the gallon. WHOOOOOOO does it burn going down. I took a couple sips of it and that was enough for me, never touched it since. I will stick to the spirits sold in stores as they taste much better and don't have the potential to make you go blind.
 
sidevalve said:
Just wondering if anyone has ever tried any home distilled spirit - moonshine - puchine [the irish variety not sure how to spell it] or any of the others - every country seems to have it's own 'brand'. Mostly these are illegal to brew so no recipes maybe but just has anyone ever tasted them. I tasted some a friend made a few years ago - almost tasteless actually but insanely alcoholic. Prefer a good beer myself.
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I sure have. There is a "legal" moonshine place not far from here. I went on a tour and naturally I came out of there with a few bottles of the stuff. And yes, it is potent!
 
kgord said:
I sure have. There is a "legal" moonshine place not far from here. I went on a tour and naturally I came out of there with a few bottles of the stuff. And yes, it is potent!
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You want the real stuff.
 
You can get "moonshine" at most liquor stores these days, there are a variety of brands available. I've had both the home made and commercial versions and wasn't really crazy about either to be honest. Neither were particularly strong relative to your standard bottle of booze. However, with regards to the home made stuff, that could have simply been a result of them diluting it to a safe enough level to drink when bottling it. I'm not saying all home made moonshine isn't strong, it can certainly be made so, I just personally haven't had any.

Regular commercially available liquor at 80 or 100 proof is plenty strong, I don't really see the appeal of trying to find something stronger to drink.

My grandparents used to make their own wine when I was younger, aka "dago red", which was usually a bit stronger than your typical bottled wine, but again, much of that is a lot of folklore and embellishment. They didn't make their own wine because of some love of wine making, they did it to save money (they lived middle-lower class).
 
The other day, I was watching a BBC programme whereby Reginald D Hunter was touring the southern states where he grew up and he ventured into one of the "moonshine" places in, I think, Tennessee. They seemed to have an almost endless selection of stuff. I have no idea what it tasted like, but Reg's eyes were starting to revolve a bit after a while!
 
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