Artisanal moonshine.

The stereotypical impression of a person who produces moonshine - a moonshiner - is that of a back-country mountain man with a hole in his hat and a gun strapped to his back tending to his illegal still under the cover of darkness. Perpetuated by the silent films and magazine melodramas of the early 2-th century, this indelible image holds such sway over our collective imaginations that it's hard to imagine a moonshiner as anything else is the concept then of a white-collar moonshiner on oxymoran? Perhaps not.

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Today's moonshiner is more interested in producing a superior batch of alcohol that they are in bottling hangover-inducing firewater. The nefarious spirit with the shady past has recently been invited to the tables of some of the nation's most celebrated dining establishments as bartenders across the nation invent clever ways to incorporate "white lightning" into their cocktails. Modern moonshine is rarely produced under the clock of darkness by a wild-eyed hillbilly who tells his wife he's venturing out into the dark to bottle moonlight. Much of today's moonshine is produced by moonshiners more likely stockpilling issues of National Geographic than ammunition. Home distillers are crafting alcohol of impressive quality and flavor in much the same way a home-brewer or wine maker has been for decades. Modern, artisanal moonshine is appreciated not only for its flavor, but for what rich historical roots and impressive legacy represent: a symbol of America's resilient, independent spirit.

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Moonshine is defined as any untaxed, illicity produced alcohol. It's considered illicit because it's illegal to distill alcohol in the United States without a license, and most distilleries are unregistered to their spirits are not taxed. Not only is moonshine illegal to produce, it typically has a higher proof than traditional spirits. Terms such as "tub-thumped"; "barrel-fever"; "pulling the stocks off your teeth"; and "tangle-footed" have been invented to describe the head-splitting effects of a bad batch of moonshine. This has certainly not helped the bad-boy miscreant of the spirit world's journey back to the light. Moonshine's baggage is slowly disappearing as more home distillers champion the cause of a well-crafted bath of superior quality alcohol. The interest in moonshine is growing and if it's ever legalized in the United States, it might one day be just as popular to visit a corner distillery turning out sublime batches of spirits as it is to stop by the local microbrewery for a pint.

Distillation is a universal right

Moonshine's reputation may have gained esteem in the United States, but the history of distilling spirits began long before the first colonists arrived in their new country. Distilling most likely has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia, where alchemists were the first to produce alcohol over 3500 years ago. The spirits they crafted were intended as medicine for the sick, not a beverage for pleasure-seekers. They believed that alcohol was wine's purified essence, and they had such reverance for it that they called it "spiritus," as it was deemed to have miraculous powers. This is how alcohol came to be known as a "spirit."

Stills to produce spirits have existed since at least the 7th century, and Arab physicians prescribed alcohol as a cure-all remedy for countless ailments. In the early 12th century, North Africans introduced distillation to Moorish-controlled Spain; the process quickly spread to the rest of Europe, including France, Italy, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Ireland. Whiskey has been produced in Ireland since the late 12th century. The Irish word for whisky is derived from the Latin term "aqua vitae," or "what of life." In Gaelic it was morphed into "visque breatha" or "visquebaugh," the origin of the word "whiskey."

The earliest written reference to moonshine is found in the 1811 British publication The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose. He describes moonshine as "white brandy smuggled on the coast of Kent and Sussex, and the gin of the north Yorkshire." The English brought their long tradition of moonshine production with them to America. The British emigrant George Thorpe distilled America's first corn whiskey when he arrived in Virginia in 1620, but the Dutch were the first to sell it to the public in their newly adopted homeland. The nation's first commercial distillery was erected in Dutch Manhattan in 1640 by the director general William Kieft who built a still to produce and market a grain-based liquor to the masses. No matter what nation they hailed from, however, virtually every emigrant believed that distillation was a privilege no different than the right to farm his land, preserve fruit or cure meat.

In 1791, an excise tax was implemented on whiskey in order to help pay the debts incurred by the Revolutionary War. The tax incited a populist uprising and led to the Whiskey Rebellion that had to be quelled by the National Guard. Distillers were not upset because they were a population of alcoholics, but because selling whiskey was a lucrative venture, they didn't want to lose. A bushel of corn transformed into whiskey yielded a far greater return than one sold as produce. And whiskey was easier to transport from the farm to the market than a wagon piled high with corn.

Thomas Jefferson vowed to repeal the tax when he bacame president. The revocation lasted from 1802-1862, but then the Department of the Treasury implemented it again. In 1920, Prohibition transformed moonshine production from a backwoods secret into a national hobby. The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Depression only bolstered moonshine's popularity, and earned the countless bootleggers of the era an impressive sum of money. The profit margin on whiskey during Prohibition was extremely high. It cost a moonshiner $1 to produce a gallon of whiskey he then sold for $40. While the moonshiner is the person who produces alcohol, the bootlegger is the one who sells it. The term "bootlegger" was coined when colonists sold liquor to Native Americans, a practice that was illegal. Because of this, bootleggers tucked their hooch into their bootstraps to conceal it.

Why the scandalous reputation?

Yeast, water and a sugar source, traditionally corn, are required to produce moonshine. A "grain bill" is the amount and varieties of grain used in a recipe. "Amylase" is a malted grain enzyme that transforms the starch, or grain, into sugar. When the sugar source is a grain, it's called whiskey; if it's a fruit, brandy is produced. The real fun begins when the yeast ferments the sugar source to produce alcohol--which at this stage is beer. To produce moonshine, the alcohol is separated from the fermenting mixture, also called "mash," through distillation in a still. Moonshine therefore requires a two-step process: fermentation of the sugar, followed by its distillation to separate the alcohol from the mash.

"Ethanol" is the basis of all alcoholic beverages, and a still's job is to separate the ethanol from the water in which the sugar source was initially submerged. Distillers frequently perform, or "run," this procedure several times for the same batch in order to refine their spirits to produce the desired result. The iconic "XXX," "XX," and "X" symbols on traditional jugs of whiskey is thought to designate the number of times the moonshine was run through the still. Every time moonshine is run, the proof, or alcohol level, increases. Proof is measured in the United States by figuring out the parts of alcohol per 200 total parts in a beverage heated to 60 degrees. The figure that results, the proof, is twice as high as the alcohol content. Hence, a spirit that is 90 proof is 45% alcohol, and a spirit that is 55% alcohol is 110 proof. The proof of the average spirit clocks in at 80, whereas the average proof of moonshine is 100, with some head-splitting concoctions registering at 160 proof or higher.

The sometimes disastrous side-effects of moonshine's traditionally high alcohol content is just one of the factors contributing to moonshine's shady reputation. Ethanol is not the only thing produced during distillation. Other by-products, or "congeners," which means "born with," include "methanol," a toxic substance that can cause blindness, or even death when consumed in high quantities. Methanol can never be completely eliminated from moonshine, but its level can be significantly reduced with careful monitoring. Because of this cautionary step, "bad moonshine" that brings about blindness or death as a result of methanol is a rare occurrence in contemporary America.

Another traditional fear was that the still would explode during distillation. Many modern stills are electric, but even if they're not, the explosive reputation of backwoods stills most likely had more to do with the actions of a "revenuer," or IRS agent. Hired to disband illegal moonshining operations, some revenuers set off dynamite beneath stills with the intention of blowing them up. Lead poisoning was another ailment born of moonshine consumption, but since all but the most ancient stills are comprised, or soldered together, with lead, this issue is virtually non-existent today.

A still made of copper is the most ideal. Not only is copper an excellent conductor of heat, it also eliminates the unsavory characteristics of sulfur, such as a rotten egg odor and flavor, a natural by-product of grain. Copper reacts with sulfur to produce the compound "copper sulfate" that bonds with the fatty oils of the grain and eliminates sulfur's side-effects. Connoisseurs of moonshine often feel that moonshine produced in anything but a copper still produces a "flabby" beverage that is unpalatable. And while copper might be the gold standard, stills are also made from iron, glass, aluminum, brass, stainless and galvanized steel, clay, and even plastic.

Artisanal Moonshiners

The production of moonshine continues to be illegal in the United States, but several bills have been proposed over the decades to repeal the law; the most recent was introduced in 2001. Artisanal moonshiners are quietly brewing small batches in homes throughout America. Some are now taxed, audited and licensed by the government; this allows for legal sales in retail markets and restaurants. But distilling alcohol, even though it is now legally done by some, is still highly regulated, and in the majority of cases, remains illegal.

Legality aside, home distillers are creating new and exciting recipes and scouring history for lost treasures. Some are inspired by the principles of the Reinheitsgebot, the 1516 Bavarian brewing purity law that established guidelines for achieving a quality product. Considerations of the home distiller include how long the spirit is aged, how it is filtered, what it is flavored with, the quality of the water used, and the quality of the tools. Artisanal distillers take the time to "smooth" their spirits by filtering them, sometimes through carbon, and aging them properly. While a traditional moonshine recipe called for aging the batch an average of thirty days or less, artisanal moonshine is given more time to find its bearings and flaunt its superlative qualities. Once it is ready for tasting, distillers use several factors to evaluate the quality of their product: Moonshine, no matter what the color, should be completely clear of sediment, it should smell slightly sweet, and it should never taste oily or solvent-like.

The stereotypical image of the backwoods moonshiner so deeply entrenched in the American psyche is a rare find these days. Instead, the home distiller is the same person growing heirloom tomatoes in his organic garden, and seeking out free-range, antibiotic-free chickens. The modern moonshiner is a small batch distiller pursuing quality and nuance, and is therefore producing his own spirits to ensure that their standards are met. However, while they may be of a new breed, one moonshine tradition remains: the Mason jar. Artisanal moonshine might be worthy of even the most expensive cocktail glass, but the practice of serving moonshine in a Mason jar lives on. The humble canning jar remains a steadfast symbol of moonshine's long and storied history. It reminds us of the can-do seeds that were planted centuries ago in the collective national psyche of America by emigrants who vehemently believed moonshine was one of the most fundamental symbols of independence and self-reliance.

Georgia Moon Sazerac (Serves 1)

For the Anise Hyssop-Infused Georgia
  Moon Whiskey:
  1 bunch anise hyssop leaves, blanched and chilled
  2 cups Georgia Moon Unaged Whiskey'

For the Georgia Moon Sanzerac:
  3-4 sugar cubes
  6-8 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
  1/3 cup plus one tablespoon Old Overholt Rye
  1 tablespoon Anise Hyssop-Infused
  Georgia Moon Whiskey, from above

For the garnish.
  1 long strip orange Zest
  'available from http://www.chefs-garden.com or [phone]
  "available from http://www.shoprileliquors.com or [phone]

For the Anise Hyssop-Infused Georgia Moon Whiskey:
  Blend anise hyssop with whiskey and steep in refrigerator overnight.
  Strain infused spirit through fine mesh sieve,
  Will keep unrefrigerated for three months.

For the Georgia Moon Sazerac:
  Place the sugar cubes in a shaker and soak them with the bitters,
  then muddle into a sugar/bitters "sludge" Add the rye and the anise
  hyssop whiskey, ice, and shake vigorously.

To serve:
  Strain into a chilled eight-ounce martini glass

This variation on the classic Sazerac cocktail substitutes anise hyssop for the licorice flavor usually imparted by absinthe. The taste of the hyssop-infused moonshine is verdant and places this cocktail firmly in the summer season when the herb is available at the greenmarket, but it can be ordered online from a variety of retailers throughout the year. Same believe that anise hyssop and Peychaud's bitters have curative powers as a decongestant and gastrointestinal tonic, respectively.

"He is called a moonshiner because it is supposed that he engages in his illicit traffic on moonlight nights when there is enough light to make work easy and enough darkness to make him secure"

- John C. Campbell, The Southern Highlander and His Homeland, 1921

Proof: (prf) n. The term "proof" comes from Great Britain where sellers had to "prove" the alcohol level in their spirits by mixing a portion of it with gun-powder and lighting it. If the mixture ignited, they "proved" it contained an appropriate level of alcohol; it would not ignite if there was a significantly high level of water present.

MICHAEL CECCONI,

Mixologist, Savoy and Back Forty, New York, NY