How Can Sugarland Moonshine Be Called Moonshine?

I’m a huge fan of apple pie, and I’m a huge fan of whiskey. Any time these two things come together, I feel the need to check it out — knowing full well that I come away from the process disappointed more often than not. But hope springs eternal, and a new expression from Sugarlands Distilling Co threatens to put a green apple twist on the classic.

1. Advertisment Founded by Greg Eidam II and Ned Vickers in 2014, the Sugarlands Distilling Co.
2. Is dedicated to the art of un-aged flavored whiskey.
3. The pair don’t claim to have a ton of prior distilling experience, and so attended some courses on the topic before setting up their own distillery.
4. Sugarlands Distilling Co is now probably most famous for its involvement in a Discovery Channel docudrama called Moonshiners, which claims to follow illegal distillers as they produce traditional moonshine in the back woods of the Appalachian mountains.

The distillers featured in the show have partnered with the distillery to make their signature spirits for mass production. The distillery is also the official moonshine of NASCAR, the American racing circuit that started as a result of bootleggers building hot rod cars to evade the police during prohibition.

Learn More: What’s the Difference Between Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, and Rye?

Technically speaking, “moonshine” is illegally produced unaged whiskey (typically produced “by the light of the moon” to evade the police). So proper moonshine this ain’t but it’s as close as you’ll get. And as a result, there’s some oddities going on with the labeling and it’s throwing me off.

1. By the letter of the law, they’re right that this is “neutral spirits with natural flavor and caramel coloring,” which is also the description of just about every bottom shelf bottle of whiskey every produced.
2. But according to the distillers themselves, they actually go through a proper process to make this instead of just bringing in mass-produced grain alcohol.

The distillers claim that the whiskey starts with a grain bill of locally sourced (but not necessarily locally produced) grains, which are milled on-site in their Austrian grain mill. From there, they are fermented, and distilled six times in an Appalachian style 250 gallon pot still.

1. Typically, the spirits would be stored in a wooden barrel for a while to be aged, but since this is “moonshine”, they add some flavoring to the spirits and ship it out the door.
2. This process is much closer to the production process for flavored vodka than traditional whiskey, especially the excessive distillation runs.

But given that there’s no additional aging to reduce impurities and remove bad tasting aspects, it makes sense to get the spirit as pure as possible. I do have a question about the flavoring that I’m not certain about. There are two ways to add flavor to a spirit, either by adding it as an ingredient in the still (in the mash or added to a doubler) or by infusing it after the distillation is complete.

They aren’t exactly forthcoming about where in the process the flavoring happens, or if it’s even real fruit instead of “natural flavors” added by a syrup at the end. I suspect that there’s some added sugar in here, since some of it dried into a syrup-y sweet crusty drip on the side of the jar. And that doesn’t happen if it’s just water and whiskey.

Speaking of added things, there’s also some added coloring in the liquid to give it a dark amber tint more akin to an aged spirit. It’s a Mason jar. Which is both good and bad. The good is that the Mason jar is the traditional format for delivery of moonshine. It’s a good rustic container that speaks a bit to the history of the product. The bad is that it’s a Mason jar, and therefore has some issues. The very first thing I smell coming off the glass is sugary sour green apple, just like a green Jolly Rancher. I suppose there might be some other apple-pie-related aromas in there, but that green apple is just way too overpowering to get anything else.

I do, however, get some of those flavors in the spirit. (I almost had to hold my nose to get them, but they’re there.) First up is a punch of green apple just like in the nose, but that quickly tapers off. Coming on its heels is a bit of sugary sweetness and some baking spices, specifically some light cinnamon (cinnamon in whiskey done right — aka way more pleasant than Fireball).

Following that, I get something like a buttery fluffy pastry that finishes with a proper apple flavor. The problem comes with repeated trips to the well. The first couple times it’s an interesting novelty, but as you sip the whiskey, that cloying sweetness starts to get on my nerves and some of the flavors start to appear almost bitter.

1. Adding a bit of ice, you can definitely see how much sugar has been added to this thing.
2. Just like with Skrewball or Fireball, it’s a swirling mess in the glass — the sugar-saturated whiskey and the cold water fail to mix properly.
3. As for the taste, everything is still there but just slowed down a bit.

The initial hit of green apple stays longer, and that baking spice note takes a while to show up. None of it is necessarily toned down or diminished just delayed a while. There’s absolutely enough sweetness in this whiskey that adding the traditional sugar cube is like adding another bucket of water to the ocean.

1. Save your ingredients for something else.
2. Surprisingly, I don’t hate this.
3. I was expecting that the angostura bitters would have a negative impact, but I actually think that they helped this drink a lot.
4. The bitters seem to be doing battle with the green apple flavor and winning the fight, toning it down significantly and adding more of a complexity to the flavor.

Everything else, from the cinnamon baking spices to the buttery crust flavor, works way better here than it ever did alone. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is actually legitimately drinkable. I feel like Michael Bluth opening the dead dove bag from the refrigerator,

1. I don’t know what I expected except for this.
2. It’s mayhem.
3. Utter, utter mayhem.
4. There’s no playful interaction or delicate balancing, instead it’s an all out assault on my taste buds and the only thing I feel is regret for the money I threw away making this monstrosity.
5. It’s like thirty people shouting at once for my attention, and none of them are compatible.

It’s just the flavor version of noise and it makes me wince every time I take a sip. Advertisment Overall, I think they achieved an apple pie flavor but only if you can get through that intense sour green apple flavor. And with a surprise assist from the bitters in the Old Fashioned portion of the testing regimen, this spirit goes from a novelty to something that I’d actually voluntarily stock in my liquor cabinet.

Is Sugarland moonshine real moonshine?

– Located in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Sugarlands Distilling Co. opened in March 2014. It uses the same process and ingredients as the legendary backwoods stills of prohibition days, but Sugarlands is paying taxes on it. Everything from Sugarlands is small batch and pot distilled a minimum of six times.

1. The moonshine is made from Silver Cloud, fresh Tennessee white corn and cane sugar.
2. The pot still allows Sugarland to produce a great spirit with the perfect balance between being too thin or too heavy.
3. Only the best ingredient, milled fresh for every batch is used.
4. Sugarlands has won many awards including the Platinum Medal (Best in Class) at the 2014 SIP Awards, the Double God Medal at the 2016 Fifty Best Awards as well as Silver Medals at both the 2014 Lost Angeles International Spirits Competition and the 2015 Beverage Testing Institute.

These awards are important to the folks at Sugarlands Distilling Co, especially because these awards are at the consumer level and are blind taste competitions. Sugarlands Shine is proud to join NASCAR to celebrate the authentic history of moonshiners who began manipulating their stock cars to outrun the law as they delivered their high-octane spirits throughout Appalachia.

Why is moonshine called moonshine?

England Circa 18th Century – The origin of the word as we know it today comes from England in the 18 th century. It’s meaning derives from the notion of light without heat, or light from the moon. It meant illicit or smuggled liquor. Moonshiner was a term that described any persons doing illegal activities under the cover of darkness. It could mean anything – robbery, burglary, grave robbing.

What is Sugarland’s moonshine?

Sugarlands is an area in Tennessee with an abundance of sugar maple trees – moonshiner’s paradise. Sugarlands Distilling Company was founded in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in 2014. Bringing together traditional and modern methods, they produce award-winning, authentic moonshines with more than 25 flavors to choose from.

Where does Sugarlands distillery get its name from?

Sugarlands Distilling Company in Gatlinburg is a place to taste many different flavors of shine, take the tour to see the moonshiner’s art in action, buy jars of moonshine, apparel or mountain merchandise – and listen to the wonderful bands and musicians that Sugarlands brings to play on the Spirit Stage in back of the stillhouse. Images courtesy of Sugarlands The Sugarlands in the Smoky Mountains were an inaccessible area of gorges and mountains with a preponderance of sugar maple trees – hence the name. Settlers grew corn, but all produce was bulky and hard to drive to market across the rocky terrain. Moonshine is legal in Tennessee – if you pay your taxes and get a license from the state. Sugarlands Distilling Company has such a license, as well as a store of tales from the earlier times. Visitors are welcomed to take a bench or rocking chair and listen to Appalachian history told by storytellers, as well as to enjoy the live music presented several nights of the week.

The distillery offers tours of its operation that are family friendly, informative, and usually hilarious. All the staff at Sugarlands have a flair for humor and anecdote, and kids are welcome and catered to at all the functions – except the sampling of course, which they have to watch over a soft drink.

There’s an expert tour also, for those who want to dive deep into the technicalities of distilling. Sugarlands has started producing whisky too, in small amounts, as well as the currently 14 varieties of moonshine, with some flavors you might not have thought of – try the butter pecan creme – and served in some remarkable cocktails.

1. The company has won numerous awards for the quality of its products, which are sourced locally and currently available in almost half the states of the Union (and growing).
2. Sugarland’s music is a seemingly endless stream of talent performing bluegrass and country, from ballads to band jams, and featuring a lot of original music originating from Nashville to New jersey, Oregon to Kentucky, and all points in between.

Check the playlist, which at the time of writing shows 27 different acts from across the country through the next two months – that’s pretty impressive! The distillery is located at 805 Parkway, next to the Sky Lift. For more information see the Sugarlands Distilling Company website,

How fake is moonshiners?

Is the show Moonshiners for real? – That, my friend, is a complicated question that includes a discussion about the very nature of reality, the intertwining of myth and legend with expectation. And, of course, just how much folks want to accept a level of fakeness and believe their own bull.

We’ll start with the obvious. The very act of observing reality changes it. This is a TV show with cameras and producers, directors and editors. In fact, it is produced by Magilla Entertainment, a production company that is also associated with other reality TV shows. In addition, many of the cast members are referred to as actors.

Some of their other shows include “Long Island Medium”, “Jailhouse Redemption” and “Diesel Brothers”. The most humorous of which might be “King of Thrones”, where they say they are number one when it comes to number two. It’s essentially an HDTV special on toilets. In a place like Sevier County, Tennessee, moonshine means big business (photo by Alaina O’Neal/TheSmokies.com)

What technically is moonshine?

Moonshine is generally considered to be a clear, unaged whiskey with a corn base and a high alcohol content that is made at home. For much of its history, moonshine was produced in secret to avoid high taxes or outright bans on alcoholic drinks.

What is another name for moonshine?

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group. On this page you’ll find 22 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to moonshine, such as: bootleg, firewater, hooch, rotgut, bathtub gin, and home brew.

What is considered moonshine?

Moonshine: From Woods To Whiskey Throughout its storied past, moonshine has been called many things: shine, white lightning, hooch, fire water, white dog, or bathtub gin. Without regulation, there was no standardization to the methods or monikers of “moonshine”.

1. Currently, to be called “moonshine”, there are some loose qualifications the spirit must meet.
2. Ultimately, moonshine is grain alcohol at its purest form.
3. Moonshine was originally made in secret during the prohibition era and, to contemporary purists, it’s not considered “moonshine” unless it’s clandestine.

However, most distilleries now legally produce moonshine, regardless of whether they bottle and sell a product labeled as “moonshine.” Whiskey, prior to aging, is moonshine! So, What is Moonshine? Moonshine is defined as a homemade, un-aged whiskey, marked by its clear color, corn base, and high alcohol content (sometimes peaking as high as 190 proof).

1. Traditionally, it was produced in a homemade still and bottled in a mason jar.
2. For most of its history, moonshine was distilled in secret to avoid taxes and alcohol bans (specifically during the Prohibition Era).
3. The term “moonshiner” was popularized in the 18 th century, where individuals deep in the woods of the Appalachia attempting to avoid being caught by police distilled under the light of the moon.

How it’s Made Moonshine consists of:

Corn Barley Wheat or Rye (optional) Yeast Water

While distillate or moonshine can be made from pretty much any type of grain, it originally was made from barley or rye. Moonshine at its purest form, is whiskey, or bourbon distillate. It is un-aged, high in proof, and clear in color. During the Prohibition Era, if grains were unavailable or too expensive, moonshiners would use white sugar which still gave them that alcohol “kick” they were looking for, but with a sweeter taste to it.

Making moonshine has two main steps: fermentation and distillation. Fermentation is the process of yeast breaking down the sugars in the grains to produce alcohol. Once the fermentation process is complete, the “moonshine mash” (fermented grains and yeast) is sent to the still. As the temperature rises in the still, the steam is forced through the top of the still into the worm box.

The worm box is typically a barrel with cold water flowing through it and a metal coil pipe down the center. Alcohol vapors flow through the coil pipe where they cool and condense back into a liquid. The last part of distillation is the spout or valve that leads from the worm box to a bucket or steel drum.

• Typically this would be sent through at least one filter, but potentially more.
• The “XXX” label, that has been popularized in moonshine imagery, was originally an indication of quality; each “X” represented a time that it had been distilled.
• Moonshine Today Moonshine has changed quite a bit since the backyard bottlers of Prohibition.

In 1933, U.S. alcohol production became legal, as long as you paid the appropriate taxes and had the correct permits. While this makes moonshine legal, you are still prohibited from distilling some at home. Why is this? Mainly for safety reasons. Distilling is a very precise chemical process that, when done incorrectly, can create a dangerous environment or produce a toxic libation.

Governmental regulations are not just for tax purposes, but to protect the consumer from drinking something that could cause serious health issues. “Unlike other spirits, legally produced moonshine can be made with any source material, at any proof, can have coloring and flavoring added – the works. There are no rules for its classification,” said Colin Blake, director of spirits education,

With such a loose classification of this grain alcohol, many different flavored products can still be considered moonshine! At Jeptha Creed, we offer a high-proof original moonshine highlighting the traditional flavor profile, but made with modern distillation processes.

All of our moonshines start with the same four grains as our flagship bourbon, featuring our heirloom Bloody Butcher Corn. If you’re less interested in this pure un-aged whiskey flavor, we have expanded into the modern spectrum of moonshine with a naturally-flavored lineup. Delicious moonshine flavors like apple pie, blackberry, cinnamon, and lemonade represent our ode to the history with a focus on the future.

Our moonshine is even sold in mason jars as a “hats off” to the non-regulated history it came from. Our line of moonshines are a far cry from the potentially deadly spirits that used to flow from homemade stills. Representing its full integration into the contemporary alcohol industry, moonshine now even has its own holiday! National Moonshine Day is on the first Thursday in June (June 2 nd of 2022).

Who owns Sugarland moonshine?

– President, Owner and Founder Ned Vickers, Owner Kent Woods, Master Distiller Greg Eidam.

What is Tim Smith’s moonshine called?

Virginia ABC > Products > Whiskey > Tim Smith Climax Moonshine.

Is moonshine just corn whiskey?

Moonshine – Put simply, moonshine is untaxed whiskey – although that’s no longer the case. Making moonshine started early in American history when the new US government imposed a tax on whiskey and spirits to help cover the American Revolution’s expenses.

Because of the rich heritage of moonshine recipes, many distillers opt to maintain the moniker ‘moonshine’ even though moonshine is legal and is taxed. Moonshiners in the past didn’t have an absolute definition for what constituted moonshine. Moonshiners across the country employed various ingredients, including corn, rye, and sugar.

Moonshine has a flavor that is more like vodka than a dark-colored whiskey. This is because historically, moonshine is seldom matured, and obtaining and keeping oak barrels for maturing secretly would’ve been extremely difficult. However, because there weren’t any legal criteria, the flavor varied.

How many times is Sugarlands moonshine distilled?

I’m a huge fan of apple pie, and I’m a huge fan of whiskey. Any time these two things come together, I feel the need to check it out — knowing full well that I come away from the process disappointed more often than not. But hope springs eternal, and a new expression from Sugarlands Distilling Co threatens to put a green apple twist on the classic.

• Advertisment Founded by Greg Eidam II and Ned Vickers in 2014, the Sugarlands Distilling Co.
• Is dedicated to the art of un-aged flavored whiskey.
• The pair don’t claim to have a ton of prior distilling experience, and so attended some courses on the topic before setting up their own distillery.
• Sugarlands Distilling Co is now probably most famous for its involvement in a Discovery Channel docudrama called Moonshiners, which claims to follow illegal distillers as they produce traditional moonshine in the back woods of the Appalachian mountains.

The distillers featured in the show have partnered with the distillery to make their signature spirits for mass production. The distillery is also the official moonshine of NASCAR, the American racing circuit that started as a result of bootleggers building hot rod cars to evade the police during prohibition.

Learn More: What’s the Difference Between Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, and Rye?

Technically speaking, “moonshine” is illegally produced unaged whiskey (typically produced “by the light of the moon” to evade the police). So proper moonshine this ain’t but it’s as close as you’ll get. And as a result, there’s some oddities going on with the labeling and it’s throwing me off.

• By the letter of the law, they’re right that this is “neutral spirits with natural flavor and caramel coloring,” which is also the description of just about every bottom shelf bottle of whiskey every produced.
• But according to the distillers themselves, they actually go through a proper process to make this instead of just bringing in mass-produced grain alcohol.

The distillers claim that the whiskey starts with a grain bill of locally sourced (but not necessarily locally produced) grains, which are milled on-site in their Austrian grain mill. From there, they are fermented, and distilled six times in an Appalachian style 250 gallon pot still.

• Typically, the spirits would be stored in a wooden barrel for a while to be aged, but since this is “moonshine”, they add some flavoring to the spirits and ship it out the door.
• This process is much closer to the production process for flavored vodka than traditional whiskey, especially the excessive distillation runs.

But given that there’s no additional aging to reduce impurities and remove bad tasting aspects, it makes sense to get the spirit as pure as possible. I do have a question about the flavoring that I’m not certain about. There are two ways to add flavor to a spirit, either by adding it as an ingredient in the still (in the mash or added to a doubler) or by infusing it after the distillation is complete.

1. They aren’t exactly forthcoming about where in the process the flavoring happens, or if it’s even real fruit instead of “natural flavors” added by a syrup at the end.
2. I suspect that there’s some added sugar in here, since some of it dried into a syrup-y sweet crusty drip on the side of the jar.
3. And that doesn’t happen if it’s just water and whiskey.

Speaking of added things, there’s also some added coloring in the liquid to give it a dark amber tint more akin to an aged spirit. It’s a Mason jar. Which is both good and bad. The good is that the Mason jar is the traditional format for delivery of moonshine. It’s a good rustic container that speaks a bit to the history of the product. The bad is that it’s a Mason jar, and therefore has some issues. The very first thing I smell coming off the glass is sugary sour green apple, just like a green Jolly Rancher. I suppose there might be some other apple-pie-related aromas in there, but that green apple is just way too overpowering to get anything else.

1. I do, however, get some of those flavors in the spirit.
2. I almost had to hold my nose to get them, but they’re there.) First up is a punch of green apple just like in the nose, but that quickly tapers off.
3. Coming on its heels is a bit of sugary sweetness and some baking spices, specifically some light cinnamon (cinnamon in whiskey done right — aka way more pleasant than Fireball).

Following that, I get something like a buttery fluffy pastry that finishes with a proper apple flavor. The problem comes with repeated trips to the well. The first couple times it’s an interesting novelty, but as you sip the whiskey, that cloying sweetness starts to get on my nerves and some of the flavors start to appear almost bitter.

1. Adding a bit of ice, you can definitely see how much sugar has been added to this thing.
2. Just like with Skrewball or Fireball, it’s a swirling mess in the glass — the sugar-saturated whiskey and the cold water fail to mix properly.
3. As for the taste, everything is still there but just slowed down a bit.

The initial hit of green apple stays longer, and that baking spice note takes a while to show up. None of it is necessarily toned down or diminished just delayed a while. There’s absolutely enough sweetness in this whiskey that adding the traditional sugar cube is like adding another bucket of water to the ocean.

Save your ingredients for something else. Surprisingly, I don’t hate this. I was expecting that the angostura bitters would have a negative impact, but I actually think that they helped this drink a lot. The bitters seem to be doing battle with the green apple flavor and winning the fight, toning it down significantly and adding more of a complexity to the flavor.

Everything else, from the cinnamon baking spices to the buttery crust flavor, works way better here than it ever did alone. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is actually legitimately drinkable. I feel like Michael Bluth opening the dead dove bag from the refrigerator,

I don’t know what I expected except for this. It’s mayhem. Utter, utter mayhem. There’s no playful interaction or delicate balancing, instead it’s an all out assault on my taste buds and the only thing I feel is regret for the money I threw away making this monstrosity. It’s like thirty people shouting at once for my attention, and none of them are compatible.

It’s just the flavor version of noise and it makes me wince every time I take a sip. Advertisment Overall, I think they achieved an apple pie flavor but only if you can get through that intense sour green apple flavor. And with a surprise assist from the bitters in the Old Fashioned portion of the testing regimen, this spirit goes from a novelty to something that I’d actually voluntarily stock in my liquor cabinet.

Where is the birthplace of moonshine?

A Centuries-Old Tradition – The origins of moonshine can be traced back across the Atlantic to Scotland and Ireland. In these Celtic countries, making and drinking whiskey were time-honored traditions. When Scottish and Irish immigrants made their way to Appalachia, they used local corn to distill whiskey for their community to enjoy.

How much is moonshine at Sugarland distillery?

The moonshine itself is $25 a jar and they have all sorts of shirts, hats, etc.

Is tickle a real moonshiner?

He was convicted on February 1, 2016. Tickle was given a three-year suspended penitentiary sentence on March 24, 2016.

Steven Ray Tickle
Born	Steven Ray Tickle November 30, 1976 (age 46)
Other names	Tickle
Occupation(s)	Carpenter, Moonshiner
Known for	Starring in Moonshiners and Tickle

Is moonshine legal in the US?

Home Distilling While individuals of legal drinking age may produce wine or beer at home for personal or family use, Federal law strictly prohibits individuals from producing distilled spirits at home (see 26 United States Code (U.S.C.) 5042(a)(2) and 5053(e)).

Within title 26 of the United States Code, section 5601 sets out criminal penalties for activities including the following. Offenses under this section are felonies that are punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, for each offense.

• 5601(a)(1) – Possession of an unregistered still.
• 5601(a)(2) – Engaging in business as a distiller without filing an application and receiving notice of registration.
• 5601(a)(6) – Distilling on a prohibited premises. (Under 26 U.S.C.5178(a)(1)(B), a distilled spirits plant may not be located in a residence or in sheds, yards, or enclosures connected to a residence.)
• 5601(a)(7) – Unlawful production or use of material fit for production of distilled spirits.
• 5601(a)(8) – Unlawful production of distilled spirits.
• 5601(a)(11) – Purchase, receipt, and/or processing of distilled spirits when the person who does so knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that Federal excise tax has not been paid on the spirits.
• 5601(a)(12) – Removal or concealment of distilled spirits on which tax has not been paid.

Under 26 U.S.C.5602, engaging in business as a distiller with intent to defraud the United States of tax is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. Under 26 U.S.C.5604(a)(1), transporting, possessing, buying, selling, or transferring any distilled spirit unless the container bears the closure required by 26 U.S.C.5301(d) (i.e., a closure that must be broken in order to open the container) is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, for each offense.

• Under 26 U.S.C.5613, all distilled spirits not closed, marked, and branded as required by law and the TTB regulations shall be forfeited to the United States.
• In addition, 26 U.S.C.5615(1) provides that unregistered stills and/or distilling apparatus also will be forfeited.
• Under 26 U.S.C.5615(3), whenever any person carries on the business of a distiller without having given the required bond or with the intent to defraud the United States of tax on distilled spirits, the personal property of that person located in the distillery, and that person’s interest in the tract of land on which the still is located, shall be forfeited to the United States.

Under 26 U.S.C.5686, possessing liquor or property intended to be used in violation of the law is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both. Such liquor and property is also subject to the seizure and forfeiture provisions in 26 U.S.C.5688.

1. Under 26 U.S.C.7201, any person who willfully attempts to evade or defeat any Internal Revenue Code tax (including the tax on distilled spirits) has committed a felony and shall be fined up to $100,000, imprisoned for up to 5 years, or both, plus the cost of prosecution.
2. Under 26 U.S.C.7301, any property subject to tax, or raw materials and/or equipment for the production of such property, in the possession of any person for the purpose of being sold or removed in violation of the internal revenue laws may be seized and shall be forfeited to the United States.

In addition, any property (including aircraft, vehicles, and vessels) used to transport or used as a container for such property or materials may be seized and shall be forfeited to the United States. Further, 26 U.S.C.7302 adds that it is unlawful to possess any property intended for use, or which has been used, in violation of the internal revenue laws; no property rights shall exist in any such property.

Is Tim a real moonshiner?

Until recently, reality star Tim Smith was brewing moonshine illegally in his hometown of Climax, Virginia, but now his original pot-distilled family recipe graces the (legal) market in the form of a 90-proof spirit.

Is real moonshine 100% alcohol?

Is Moonshine 100 Percent Alcohol? – No, moonshine is not 100% alcohol. Generally, moonshine falls between 40% and 80% alcohol by volume, but the length of time and process used in distilling it will impact the content. It’s important to note that high alcohol content can have severely detrimental effects on the human body, so drinking 100% alcohol is very dangerous.

What alcohol is real moonshine?

What Type of Alcohol Is Moonshine? – Most experts agree that moonshine is a homemade, unaged whiskey. This may be surprising due to the clear color, but the distilling process and ingredients used are clear signs that it is a whiskey.

How many times is Sugarlands moonshine distilled?

I’m a huge fan of apple pie, and I’m a huge fan of whiskey. Any time these two things come together, I feel the need to check it out — knowing full well that I come away from the process disappointed more often than not. But hope springs eternal, and a new expression from Sugarlands Distilling Co threatens to put a green apple twist on the classic.

Advertisment Founded by Greg Eidam II and Ned Vickers in 2014, the Sugarlands Distilling Co. is dedicated to the art of un-aged flavored whiskey. The pair don’t claim to have a ton of prior distilling experience, and so attended some courses on the topic before setting up their own distillery. Sugarlands Distilling Co is now probably most famous for its involvement in a Discovery Channel docudrama called Moonshiners, which claims to follow illegal distillers as they produce traditional moonshine in the back woods of the Appalachian mountains.

The distillers featured in the show have partnered with the distillery to make their signature spirits for mass production. The distillery is also the official moonshine of NASCAR, the American racing circuit that started as a result of bootleggers building hot rod cars to evade the police during prohibition.

Learn More: What’s the Difference Between Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, and Rye?

Technically speaking, “moonshine” is illegally produced unaged whiskey (typically produced “by the light of the moon” to evade the police). So proper moonshine this ain’t but it’s as close as you’ll get. And as a result, there’s some oddities going on with the labeling and it’s throwing me off.

By the letter of the law, they’re right that this is “neutral spirits with natural flavor and caramel coloring,” which is also the description of just about every bottom shelf bottle of whiskey every produced. But according to the distillers themselves, they actually go through a proper process to make this instead of just bringing in mass-produced grain alcohol.

The distillers claim that the whiskey starts with a grain bill of locally sourced (but not necessarily locally produced) grains, which are milled on-site in their Austrian grain mill. From there, they are fermented, and distilled six times in an Appalachian style 250 gallon pot still.

Typically, the spirits would be stored in a wooden barrel for a while to be aged, but since this is “moonshine”, they add some flavoring to the spirits and ship it out the door. This process is much closer to the production process for flavored vodka than traditional whiskey, especially the excessive distillation runs.

But given that there’s no additional aging to reduce impurities and remove bad tasting aspects, it makes sense to get the spirit as pure as possible. I do have a question about the flavoring that I’m not certain about. There are two ways to add flavor to a spirit, either by adding it as an ingredient in the still (in the mash or added to a doubler) or by infusing it after the distillation is complete.

They aren’t exactly forthcoming about where in the process the flavoring happens, or if it’s even real fruit instead of “natural flavors” added by a syrup at the end. I suspect that there’s some added sugar in here, since some of it dried into a syrup-y sweet crusty drip on the side of the jar. And that doesn’t happen if it’s just water and whiskey.

Speaking of added things, there’s also some added coloring in the liquid to give it a dark amber tint more akin to an aged spirit. It’s a Mason jar. Which is both good and bad. The good is that the Mason jar is the traditional format for delivery of moonshine. It’s a good rustic container that speaks a bit to the history of the product. The bad is that it’s a Mason jar, and therefore has some issues. The very first thing I smell coming off the glass is sugary sour green apple, just like a green Jolly Rancher. I suppose there might be some other apple-pie-related aromas in there, but that green apple is just way too overpowering to get anything else.

I do, however, get some of those flavors in the spirit. (I almost had to hold my nose to get them, but they’re there.) First up is a punch of green apple just like in the nose, but that quickly tapers off. Coming on its heels is a bit of sugary sweetness and some baking spices, specifically some light cinnamon (cinnamon in whiskey done right — aka way more pleasant than Fireball).

Following that, I get something like a buttery fluffy pastry that finishes with a proper apple flavor. The problem comes with repeated trips to the well. The first couple times it’s an interesting novelty, but as you sip the whiskey, that cloying sweetness starts to get on my nerves and some of the flavors start to appear almost bitter.

1. Adding a bit of ice, you can definitely see how much sugar has been added to this thing.
2. Just like with Skrewball or Fireball, it’s a swirling mess in the glass — the sugar-saturated whiskey and the cold water fail to mix properly.
3. As for the taste, everything is still there but just slowed down a bit.

The initial hit of green apple stays longer, and that baking spice note takes a while to show up. None of it is necessarily toned down or diminished just delayed a while. There’s absolutely enough sweetness in this whiskey that adding the traditional sugar cube is like adding another bucket of water to the ocean.

Save your ingredients for something else. Surprisingly, I don’t hate this. I was expecting that the angostura bitters would have a negative impact, but I actually think that they helped this drink a lot. The bitters seem to be doing battle with the green apple flavor and winning the fight, toning it down significantly and adding more of a complexity to the flavor.

Everything else, from the cinnamon baking spices to the buttery crust flavor, works way better here than it ever did alone. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is actually legitimately drinkable. I feel like Michael Bluth opening the dead dove bag from the refrigerator,

1. I don’t know what I expected except for this.
2. It’s mayhem.
3. Utter, utter mayhem.
4. There’s no playful interaction or delicate balancing, instead it’s an all out assault on my taste buds and the only thing I feel is regret for the money I threw away making this monstrosity.
5. It’s like thirty people shouting at once for my attention, and none of them are compatible.

It’s just the flavor version of noise and it makes me wince every time I take a sip. Advertisment Overall, I think they achieved an apple pie flavor but only if you can get through that intense sour green apple flavor. And with a surprise assist from the bitters in the Old Fashioned portion of the testing regimen, this spirit goes from a novelty to something that I’d actually voluntarily stock in my liquor cabinet.

What proof is Sugarlands peach moonshine?

Sugarlands Distilling Co. Mark Rogers’ Peach boasts the natural taste of ripe summer peaches with a refined 70 proof moonshine.

What is the closest thing to real moonshine?

In the US, ‘ Corn Whiskey ‘ is the TTB designated category closest to traditional US moonshine.